Through the Mind of One
by brindani
Summary: A small slap leads to dramatic changes. Rei discovers a dark past while Akusa learns humility. A rather interesting ShinjiXRei fic starting after the Angel of Might. Now Complete!
1. ch 1

Authors note: I've been browsing through for some time. Never thought I would actually write one of my own, but I guess that just goes to show how motivational these stories are. I'd just like to make a few acknowledgments before we get on with the show. First thanks to everyone who writes out there. I know just how hard it is to get this stuff written sometimes. I'd also like to thank Ayanami-chan for her wonderful website "The Tales of Apartment 402". I would never have found half the Shinji/Rei fics out there without her help.

Disclaimer- I don't own Evangelion or any of its characters. If I did you'd see a lot more Eva sized footprints around here.

Ok, that should do it for now.

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

**Through the Mind of One**

by: brindani

Chapter 1

Shinji closed his eyes screaming in fright as the 5th angel's particle beam blazed towards him. When nothing happened, he reopened his eyes to find a stoic Unit 00, shield in hand, straining to stop the enormous flow of energy. Shinji shifted his attention to the gun before him, desperately willing it to hurry as he knew Rei's shield wouldn't last much longer leaving her totally defenseless before the angel's onslaught. Finally, a small click indicated all adjustments had been made and he pulled the trigger.

Shinji barely took note of the angel as its bulky form slowly tumbled to the city below. The sole focus of his attention lay on Unit 00's semi-melted form. Unit 01 dashed to the other Eva, ripping Rei's plug out, which melted its own armor plated hands, and force ejecting his plug. He franticly climbed down to the still sizzling capsule. When he grabbing the manual release bars his hands instantly began to burned. He cried out in agony, but did not let go. The bars turned painfully slow, but inch by inch, it started to move. The hatch abruptly snapped open with an audible pop. Instantly, Shinji jumped in to check on Rei.

His eyes quickly clouded as he watched Rei's shifting form as she started to regain consciousness. He smiled as her crimson eyes settled on him. He realized he must look very foolish with the torrent of tears he shed. It didn't matter. They showed both his relief and joy that she was alive and safe.

"What is wrong?" Rei asked looking puzzled

When Shinji didn't answer amidst his continuous soft sobs Rei shifted her head to the side in confusion "I am sorry, I do not know how to act or feel in a situation like this."

Shinji shifted his face up revealing his tear stained gentle eyes "Why don't you just try smiling?" His soft reply stunned the girl for several seconds until she saw it; the commander's soft caring smile. The smile before her was the same. With this realization, a soft smile of her own formed. To Shinji, it was as if a small burst of emotion coursed through him at the beauty now revealed.

A large noise jerked Shinji up in his bed. He stared blankly around the room wondering where both the plug and Rei had gone. When he became slightly more orientated, he realized it all had been a dream. He also discovered the culprit for his rude awakening: the alarm clock. Despite his obvious state of semi-awareness, the alarm continued to defiantly blare. His hands fumbled laboriously for the off switch nearly knocking it from its perch beside him. With one last stab he managed to silence the obnoxious contraption. Immediately his eyelids drifted down as a large yawn escaped.

'What an odd dream. That happened so long ago. Only a month ago, I immerged from Unit 01 after being absorbed.' He shuddered as vivid details came unbidden to his mind concerning the14th angel's defeat and his long confinement thereafter. The slight tingling feeling that occasionally enveloped him since then didn't help much either.

Asuka's shrill voice shattered his contemplation, "SHINJI!! Where is my breakfast!?"

The threatening yell brought him back to his senses as he realized he had been pondering for well over fifteen minutes.

"Just…just a second." He called as he struggled to pull one leg through a spare pair of pants up over his boxers.

Asuka didn't give him the chance as she barged through his door to berate him directly. He stood startled for a second at her abrupt appearance. When he noticed her face turn crimson he realized that his last task had not quite been completed. His realization came far too late as a swift resounding slap sent him sprawling back onto his bed.

Shinji gently cradled his jaw as his mind struggled to form coherent thought once more. 'thus begins another _delightful_ day.' was his last thought before hesitantly standing, with a small wince, to prepare for school.

(School)

"Hey Shinji, what happened to you man?" Touji, carrying his school bag absentmindedly behind his back with one hand, called with a worried expression when he noticed the now bright red mark firmly indented on the left side of Shinji's face. Shinji managed to crack open one eye, as he sat his head up on his desk, to peer up at one of the few people he called friend.

"...Asuka walked in on me while I was changing and decided that my _perversion_ deserved punishment."

Touji shook his head in distaste.

"She walks in on you changing and suddenly it's your fault? What kind of reason is that?"

Kensuke, trailing just behind Touji, flinched when Shinji came into view. "Since when did the devil incarnate ever need a reason?"

His remark had the desired effect by forcing a slight chuckle out of Touji and it even elicited a small, if weak, smile from Shinji.

Meanwhile, Asuka noticed two of the three stooges frowning at her recent handy work. On a whim, she decided to make sure they got it straight about just who's fault it was. Majestically, she strolled over with her head held high and a small sneer spread across her features stopping short by several feet behind the trio.

"What are you idiots talking about?" she asked in a forceful manner

Touji, not seen her approach, was slightly agitated by her apparent lack of remorse for her rather cruel gesture. "None of your business, devil."

The annoyance she felt quickly evolved to the beginnings of a simmering anger as she shot Touji a withering gaze.

Touji didn't give her the chance to reply as his irritation became compounded by her most recent offence.

"Why the hell do you have to pick on Shinji? He's never done anything to you. Why don't you just leave him alone?"

Hikari, seeing eminent trouble brewing, stood to intervene, but was too late as Asuka's hand lashed out with the loud slap that was quickly becoming her trademark of the day. Everyone had fully expected this after Touji's little triad. What they weren't expecting was when Touji didn't hesitate to slap her right back just as hard knocking her smaller frame back into several desks. Asuka, still sprawling on the ground, slowly turned her head unleashing a murderous gaze at the boy. She sat herself up into a crouching position trembling with fury. Suddenly, she pushed off her toes. Practically no one saw her blurred form as she darted forward fully intending a fierce strike to the gut. That would show the insolent twerp just who he was dealing with. The punch never landed as Touji's hand whipped up at the last millisecond, easily stopping her forward momentum.

Touji deliberately brought his face mere inches from Asuka's before whispering so that only she could hear. "I don't like fighting girls, but I will if you continue." his voice was silent and calm, holding only the dire promise implied.

Asuka's already severely shaking frame became fiercer as she took several steps back, after he released her. Several seconds later, she turned with growl of frustration. Shoving several unlucky spectators away, she stormed out of the classroom, releasing a scream at the top of her lungs once she made it past the door.

When Asuka's voice began to dim into the background, everyone's attention became riveted onto Touji. Most were not quite sure whether they should scold the boy for treating a girl that way or congratulate him for finally doing what they all had only dreamed of. Touji ignored the attention as he smoothly sat down in his seat, quietly awaiting the beginning of class. Shinji found himself chocked up. Someone had stood up for him. It was the first time in his life that anyone had.

After blinking several times, Kensuke slid his own gaze from the door Asuka had just exited back towards Touji. It took a little while, but he managed to blurt out the question he was dieing to ask.

"How did you do that?"

Kensuke, the notorious hacker no one knew him to be, had managed to extract several pieces of training footage featuring the second child immersed in high level combat against several master martial artists and doing an excellent job of giving them a run for their money. He knew that Touji had fought quite a few brawls in his time, but he couldn't see him managing anything like what just happened.

Touji took his eyes off the ceiling focusing them silently on Kensuke. His face became rather apprehensive about the quiet question. Glancing once at Shinji, who was also looking at him with deep interest, he sighed returning his eyes to ceiling before starting.

"Do you remember my Evangelion's activation test?" Kensuke nodded while Shinji shivered slightly. "Well, the angel wasn't trying to gain a captive." This drew Shinji's attention as that was exactly what they told him during his debriefing. "No, it couldn't activate the Eva without a pilot." Touji's eyes started to go distant as he recalled those disturbing memories "My mind was so confused at the time that the angel easily gained control. It…it forced me to command the Eva according to its will. It was horrid, I cried in despair while commanding the Eva to attack." Touji lightly shook his head trying to rid himself of the haunting visions. "Anyway, when the dummy plug was activated I was introduced to a whole new level of pain. My flesh felt like it was being clawed out piece by piece. When I managed to look up through the pain I saw Unit 01's murderous grin as it clutched my plug, about to smash it. I felt almost grateful, I deserved to die after what I had done, angel or not. When the cracks developed inside the plug I knew my time was short. I didn't know why it stopped until I later heard that the commander deactivated the system. I can't help but think that if he hadn't I would have been hospitalized or more likely killed."

Shinji tried to hold back tears as that rather disturbing memory surfaced for him as well. Touji closed his eyes before continuing. "When I got out of quarantine I decided I didn't want that confused feeling, the one the angel used to control me. So I started to do anything that seemed to help focus my mind, karate, taekwondo, even yoga." Touji paused briefly to knock Kensuke lightly across the head when he began to chuckle at that last admission. "Stop laughing. After that I put most of my extra time into training. When Asuka attacked I could feel her strength, but she wasn't focused so she couldn't use it properly. This made it rather easy to block her punch."

Both Kensuke and Shinji sat quietly thinking on Touji's words. Only minutes later the teacher came in.

(later)

With the notable exception of Asuka's absence, the day continued on as normal. That meant suffering through the typical boring lessons. Everyone nearly cheered out loud when lunch time finally arrived albeit slightly groggily from having just woken up.

Shinji was taking out his modest lunch of a turkey sandwich, banana, and small carton of milk when he happened to glance in Rei's direction. It took him several seconds to realize she was eating two plain pieces of bread with no other food evident.

Shinji couldn't help himself as he swiftly walked over to her.

"Is…is that all your going to eat today, Rei?" Shinji was amazed that he only stuttered a little.

Rei casually turned her typical dispassionate gaze towards him. Two red orbs bored into him for several nerve-racking seconds before she replied.

"Yes, this is adequate for my mid-day sustenance requirements." Having finished, she stoically returned to her modest meal.

Shinji was momentarily confused. His dream last night posed as a vivid reminder that this girl was capable of emotion, even if she didn't show it often. Yet, she dismissed him as methodically as a robot when he was only trying to show concern.

Shinji's face took up a hint of determination before he continued.

"If you like, you could have my sandwich." He gingerly held out the turkey breast sandwich with light mayo, lettuce, and several fresh slices of tomato.

Rei returned her gaze to him only a moment before narrowing her eyes.

"I dislike eating meat."

His face now felt as red as the tomato slices and just as cut down. The urge to let the matter drop welled up in him, but, for some reason, something in him refused to be discouraged in one of his few attempts at kindness. He marched back to his desk and grabbed the large ham submarine sandwich that Touji was staring sadly at.

'It was really nice of Sis to make me lunch, but why can't she understand what goes into making a real sandwich, meat.' Touji's despairing thoughts where interrupted with his sandwich's abrupt disappearance.

Touji blinked several times in confusion before glancing up to see where it went, he found Shinji opening both his sub and Shinji's own sandwich, depositing all of the small chunks of turkey straight onto Touji's before handing it back. Leaving a now smiling Touji, Shinji quietly walked back to Rei's desk offering the sandwich once more.

Rei sat with one eyebrow slightly raised at the spectacle the boy had gone through before tentatively taking the proffered sandwich.

Her cheeks turned a light pink before she could reply

"Thank you."

Only one person really noticed the almost imperceivable smile that seemed to unconsciously grace her features. For Shinji, that smile was most definitely worth a measly sandwich.

Neither had the chance to reflect too much on the occurrence as the angel alarms began to blare.

End Chapter 1

Post-authors notes: There's the beginning. If you liked it review so I can know which parts are good. If you didn't like it review so I can know what parts need to be revised (constructive criticism only, please). If you really didn't care, well, ah review anyway.


	2. ch 2

Authors note: I would have gotten this fiction posted a lot sooner, but some of the reviews for chapter one made it necessary to radically reform much of both chapters. That means that chapter one has been revamped adding nearly 1000 words. By the way I'm still looking for anyone interested in pre-reading. Contact me at if you are interested.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Eva or its characters. Oh so many perfectly good cars gone uncrunched, bummer.

"Speaking out loud"

'Thinking internally'

******Through the Mind of One**

by: brindani

Chapter 2

(Nerve Central)

Misato paced back and forth while both Shinji and Rei stood at attention before her. Shinji's eyes quietly followed Misato's progressive laps while Rei stared straight ahead not bothering. Finally, Misato stopped and turned towards the two pilots.

"Where is Asuka!?"

"Well… she kind of got into a small fight at school and left the room in a bit of a rage." Shinji timidly replied

Misato agitation grew as several new reports came in indicating the angel's continued presence.

Misato sharply turned to the command crew. "Send a team to the school to locate the Second as fast as possible."

After her short bark of a command she forced herself to calm down at this unexpected turn of events. She then returned her gaze to the two present pilots pausing a second before continuing.

"The15th angel has remained stationary in the upper atmosphere since it moved into a synchronic orbit above us. I want Shinji to go up alone to investigate the possible dangers first. You are not to…"

Gendou abruptly cut her off. "Belay that order. Unit 01 will stay in cryofreeze. Unit 00 will go up to investigate the situation."

Misato turned to the commander slightly perturbed at his unexpected interference.

"Yes, sir" Misato replied before turning back to the pilots "Rei, you are not to engage unless I order it. Remain as evasive as possible. Understood?"

While Misato spoke, Rei stood straight with her head held high. "Yes, Major" Rei replied crisply before turning smartly to head towards her Eva.

Shinji watched her retreating form for several seconds before turning back to Misato. "Ahhh…What about me?"

Misato looked at him briefly before darting her head quickly towards the commander and back.

"Stand by in Unit 01 in case of an emergency."

"Ok."

Shinji departed for his own Eva showing none of the confidence Rei demonstrated.

Several tense moments past as people rushed around, efficiently getting things ready. Misato lightly taping her foot as she became impatient.

"Is Unit 00 ready, yet?"

"Activation is commencing. It should be ready to launch in 2.3 minutes." Maya replied absently as her fingers danced across the keyboard, attempting to finalize the activation

"Good, launch Unit 00 when activation is complete."

"Yes, ma'am."

Rei felt the familiar jerk as her Eva was roughly routed to one of the various exit ports located throughout the city. Coming to the surface her first concern was to locate the enemy. She swiveled around in a large circle finally orienting on a small light she could barely see far above her through the downpour of rain. Her orientation took just a little too long as a piercing white light suddenly stabbed through Unit 00 turning Rei's world black.

(Rei's mind)

When she opened her eyes, Rei found herself in a cozy little bedroom. A little girl, seemingly about six or seven years old, sat on a neatly made bed pulling her socks on with a grand smile playing across her face. Her mellow brown eyes seemed to flash everywhere with a hint of amusement and joy. Her shoulder long hair held a rich display of bright blond curls that cascaded down her back.

Rei felt disoriented by the sudden change in scenery. "What is this?" She directed her question to the girl. The girl, however, continued with her shoes as if she hadn't heard Rei.

Rei reached out to lightly tap the child on the shoulder but found that her hand went straight through as if through thin air. Rei was not often confused but the current situation totally puzzled her.

"How absolutely delightful." The abstract voice seemed to come from no where. The light amusement that coated it unsettled Rei slightly.

"Who is there?"

"But a humble angel."

"An angel? You are the one attacking the city?"

The angel didn't seem to take note of her latest question.

"Now who is this little one?" after a short pause he continued. "Do you not remember her? She was once someone very dear to you. Oh how tantalizing." The voice seemed to hold a dark relish about the whole situation.

A different voice then penetrated the air. "Sara, you'll be late for school if you don't hurry."

The little girl's head shot up and her smile widened even further.

Gracefully, the child bounced off the bed before bounding out the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She gleefully cried out in a sing song voice.

Rei was amazed at the confidence and excitement that seemed to permeate the child. She didn't have long to consider this uncharacteristic enthusiasm as her body drifted after the child, it was very disconcerting to Rei as it became apparent she had no control to stop her movement.

Sara ran up to a middle aged women, obviously the child's mother given the heavy resemblance, especially their beautiful locks, and hugged her as the women swept the precocious child up and around while they both laughed.

After a several good twirls the mother lightly brought the child back down to the ground squatting besides her. "Now be a good girl today and remember to have fun at school." she finished by lightly taping the child's noise which sent her into another fit of giggles.

"Oh so very touching." The angelic voice seemed to come from behind her. When she turned around no one was evident there.

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Patience, Patience." It said with deepening amusement.

The Scene before her flashed. Rei now hovered near the ceiling watching Sara as she sat on a chair with her feet kicking lightly back and forth. Sara's mother sat in the seat next to her. They now appeared to be in a principles office.

The principle was a big man with a bushy mustache and a slight weary expression. He glanced out into the hall where seven other sets of parents waited semi-patently to find out the reason for being called in. After a tired sigh he turned back to his current guests. "I've received a call from a local agency requesting some testing be done with the children of this school, Ms…" The principle quickly glanced at the folder currently laid out before him. "…Tokara."

Ms. Tokara looked suspicious at such a request. Her daughter was her world, as far as she was concerned, and she would not allow anything to happen to her if she could help it.

"What kind of testing?"

The resigned look as well as a slight roll of his eyes showed that he had had to deal with this reaction far more times then he really wanted to contemplate at the moment.

"It seems that the agency is collecting data for a study on children's health. More specifically for the Kindergarten classes though they have shown interest in the first graders as well. From what I can gather they have hired some of the best known doctors in the country to administer the evaluation. The results from these tests would, of course, be dually given to the parents." This was obviously a selling point due to the low end district that the school resided in. Getting up and walking around his desk he proffered several pages neatly stapled together. When Ms. Tokara glanced hesitantly at the forms he continued.

"This is not school sponsored so it is necessary to have a release form signed by all of the participating parents." He noticed Ms Tokara wavering so he tried one more tactic to try and get onto the next set of overtly anxious parents. "Off hand, it sounds like a very good deal given that an equivalent examination would likely cost several thousand dollars."

Ms. Tokara hesitated with a fountain pen in her right hand held above the small x. Glancing up one last time at the pudgy man she finally signed with a quick and neat flourish.

"I do expect _all_ results that are found."

The man closed his eyes wishing that he didn't have to be the one to get all these blasted forms signed. 'Damn bureaucrats'. While outwardly he tried to reassure the women

"Of course, all results will be forwarded to you immediately upon completion."

The last word was hardly out of the principle's mouth before the scene blurred away to reformed near what appeared to be an entry plug.

"What are the results for this one?" Rei turned at the familiar voice to find a rather young Gendou sitting on a chair leaning forward with his hands held before him as was his typical custom. Dr. Fuyutsuki stood to the left of the seated figure with his hands behind his back and a bored expression crossing his face. To the right stood a slightly more enthusiastic Dr. Naoko Akagi.

"My God, this isn't possible." Rei turned back forward to see who had spoken. Several unfamiliar people sat at various terminals. Rei found it odd that she didn't know any of them. She was fairly certain she knew all of NERV's current personal.

"Continue" a slightly annoyed tone touched Gendou's voice forcing the crewmen back to the present.

"Oh, sorry sir, but her sink ratio… it seems to be at 57%!"

Gendou smiled lightly under his hands before muttering quietly "Perfect". Rei only barely heard him as she stood directly in front of his seat. She doubted even the other two people standing on either side of him were aware of his soft spoken response.

As fast as it appeared the smirk vanished before Gendou issued his next order. "Send this one on to training. Continue to the next child."

(Just outside the test plug) 

A NERV officer Approached Sara as she fiddled with the tiny hair clips they had given her before she went into the funny capsule. The soldier's statement came out in a clipped military fashion.

"Follow me, I shall escort you to your new quarters."

Sara momentarily stopped playing with the clips to glance at the soldier with her head tilted to the side just slightly.

"You mean you'll be taking me back home to my mommy?"

The NERV officer not accustomed to others balking at his orders immediately frowned. "No, you will now be residing here."

Sara's face curved down into a frown of her own 'This clown needs to get things straight.'

"I'm not staying here. The principle himself said I would be coming straight home after the tests."

Being a long time drill instructor, the NERV officer visibly puffed up at the child's insolent tone and willfulness. To show her what he thought of her display he reached out to make a grab for her.

"Enough of this, if you won't come willingly then I'll make you."

He wasn't quite quick enough as Sara brushed by his hand. Her sudden movement lended strength to her heel as it smashed down hard on his toes. Her task accomplished Sara sprinted down the hall towards a close T intersection.

"Why that little piece of …"

The rest of his sentence faded as his face paled with the realization of just what would happen to him if he lost the child. With several horrible images running through his mind he decided it would be best if he ignored the stabbing pain still shooting through his foot to chase after her. When he got to the intersection, he was startled to find no one in either hallway.

'The kid couldn't possibly have run that fast.'

He then noticed two doors marked men and women respectively fairly close to the side he had seen her take. An idea started to form.

'The little twerp must have ducked into the women's bathroom thinking I wouldn't go in there. Well I'm coming in whether she likes it or not.'

He stormed into the bathroom methodically knocking open every stall along each side. By the end he found that each was empty. Cursing silently to himself, he grabbed his radio from his belt to report in.

"The child has escaped; send a search party to sector six immediately."

Rei watched the NERV officer's antics as she hovered high above the bathroom stall he had just vacated. She was slightly stunned that she was now privy to people's mental thoughts. She almost didn't notice as her body drifted to the right into a wall leading straight into the men's bathroom.

As with the Women's bathroom she didn't see any occupants, at first. At least not until her body intersected a small ventilation shaft on the far wall. There sat Sara ear held against the wall listening intently to the violent cursing of the soldier retreat into the background.

When the sound disappeared Sara sat down for a second with a scornful face

'That pathetic loser; he thought I would be so stupid as to simply stay in one of the women's stalls and expect him not to look for me there?'

Rolling her eyes once she started crawling along the duct so quietly that it belied her incredible speed. As she moved along, she past regular vents where she both saw and heard her would be pursuit who remained oblivious to her immediate presence. Soon, she left them far behind as she entered the next section.

"This Sara is very intelligent for her age." Rei remarked as she saw an escape plan begin to form in the back of Sara's mind. It was also obvious that she was observant, as her plan oriented on reaching a duct she had noticed on her way in that would be just out of sight from the main gate. Once there she knew she would be able to get home without being found.

Sara's mouth turned up slightly. 'Especially if the pursuit is this stupid.'

Despite the enclosure and continuous twists and turns Sara's inherent sense of direction told her she was heading in the right direction. She felt immensely relived when the regular passages ceased and it became evident that she was now in the ground still heading straight towards her target.

She stopped near the exit listening closely for any potential presences that may find her when she emerged. After five silent minutes of nothing she carefully lifted up the lid to poke her little head out. That was about as far as she got before a white glove grabbed her arm, roughly pulling her up into the air. Gendou stood before her with not a hint of emotion. Sara desperately tried to divert his attention by kicking any and everywhere but not one landed as he held her at arms length like a piece of feted garbage.

Rei once again felt the angel's presence coalesce in the background.

"Do you still not remember this little one?"

"I have never seen her before. How could I know her? I have yet to see myself here."

Angel laughing silently

"Don't worry you are going to make your appearance soon. Then perhaps you will see how important she once was to you."

The scene abruptly blurred reforming into a small observation room where both Gendou and Fuyutsuki stood looking into a small drab cell. Sara, on the other side of the window, was obviously seeking any weak point she could use to escape.

Fuyutsuki watched the child as she took out the primary camera.

"Quite feisty, this one. She seems ill-suited for your purpose. Do you plan to let her go?"

Gendou placed his hands intertwined just before his face

"No, I think she can be … taught to behave."

Fuyutsuki spared a look of disgust towards his long time friend.

"You don't mean…?"

"Do not trouble yourself with this. She is too important to simply let go."

The scene blurred away to reveal Sara, duck taped hand to foot and predominately across the mouth, being carried forcibly up the steps of her home.

She didn't understand. 'Are they letting me go? If so it's about time. I have important friends to meet.' When the agents broke down her front door her hopes vanished. Of every possible scenario she had imagined none began this way.

Two agents scurried inside while the third, that held her, took small deliberate steps to follow. By the time they had reached the front living room she could see the other agents forcibly holding her mother's struggling form. Sara's eyes widened as her captor withdrew a gun slowly waving it in front of her face before tilting it down directly at her mother. A silent bullet suddenly stilled Ms. Tokara's movements. Sara looked on in horror before a great anguish built deep inside her straining to be realized into a scream of utter despair.

The scene blurred away to Sara in the same drab cell as before. She was still duck taped except for the mouth. Unlike last time, however, she sat listlessly. Her eyes, that once held so much passion, where now drab and dead to the world around her.

Gendou's voice resonated slightly through the chamber.

"What is your name?"

When Sara did not immediately respond a jolt of electricity shot through her

"Sara Tokara." Sara blurted out.

"Incorrect, that is a person's name. You are no longer a person. You are nothing, meaningless. Your name shall be… Rei, Rei Ayanami.

In the real world, moments after the angel's assault, Rei awoke screaming.

"How could you? You killed her, you destroyed my world." Rei didn't know exactly where the words came from, but knew it was somewhere in the far recesses of her mind.

Gendou's reply did not hold comfort against her latest revelation.

"Increase pressure to Unit 00's capsule. The pilot has been contaminated."

Just before Rei once again lost consciousness she heard one last thing.

"Unit 01, proceed to Terminal Dogma, I shall direct you."

(Rei's mind)

Rei found herself curled in a ball crying streams of tears in the black void that now enveloped her.

"It's a lie. It has to be a lie. I...I have always been myself" the usual certainty in her voice was wavering heavily.

The last thing Rei wanted to hear was exactly what she heard next as the Angel laughed darkly

"Oh, that's the wonderful thing about your puny little minds. The truth they hold is far more devastating then anything I could ever come up with."

"No, you must be lying. You said that I wasn't present."

"Of course you weren't present. _You_ where not born until that bullet fired."

Rei dissolved into another fit of racking tears as his words drove home

"Now, now we have hardly begun our little journey of discovery." The angel spoke in a false comforting tone.

Rei desperately tried to stop it, but the background blurred anyway until they were once more in the sync testing room. She saw the same figure as before sitting inside the tube. Nothing physical had changed about the child but her eyes, her eyes held no light. They sought only to accomplish the next task placed before her.

"What are the results?" Gendou's emotionless voice inquired.

The bridge crewmen twitched due to his nervous state but eventually manage to reply.

"Uhhh, Her sync ratio now seems to be only at about .001%."

Gendo's eyes hardened

"Redo the test."

"Yes, sir"

Gendou turned to the doctor standing behind him.

"Suggestions?"

The doctor looked thoughtfully at the capsule for a second before replying

"Wellllll, if the subject's physical composition where closer to that of the Eva she should be able to sync more efficiently."

"Is this a possibility?"

"I have been leading some very experimental research involving genetic splicing but all the results on the animal test subjects thus far have been both inconclusive and extremely painful."

"Inconsequential, proceed immediately after the testing" Gendou's uncaring reply left some of the bridge crew shivering.

"Yes sir! And? About latter tonight?"

One of Gendo's eyebrows cocked along with a smirk well hidden behind his folded hands

"Everything shall be as we arranged."

A small anticipating smile developed on the young doctor's features.

"Yes, sir."

(Dark and Creepy lab)

The young child's limp body lay strapped onto a cold metallic table with several tubs sticking out in various places.

"Proceed." Gendou's order seemed to revibrate in the small chamber.

Without a verbal response the switch was flipped and a viscose fluid snaked its way to the prone figure. Mere seconds after entering, the dead stare gracing the body flickered as an onslaught of pain ran through her entire being.

Rei watched on in fascinated horror, as time seemed to accelerate. Despite the time adjustment that loud resounding screech of agony was ever present. Changes started to occur little by little. The deep healthy tan the girl previously sported started to recede into a pale white complexion. The glorious blond curls slowly streamlined turning a pale light blue. Those light brown eyes shifting to blood red.

Rei shook herself as she could no longer deny that the person before her was her.

The Angel seemed very amused at her realization.

"I see you recognize the striking resemblance. I can't wait to see what happens next."

Everything blurred

(Sync testing room)

"What are the current results?" Gendou sat stoically in his chair as he issued the command.

The bridge crewmen read off the information in a fast precise manner.

"It seems that the subject is now hovering near 3.4%."

Gendou was not happy. He took off his glasses, a rarity few have lived through, and leveled a piercing stare at the doctor.

"Well?"

The doctor managed to sound not nearly as frightened as she truly felt. She also felt slightly relieved that her pants hadn't undergone a slight coloration change, at least not yet.

"I think that it takes more then simple composition to synchronize with one of the Evas. Judging from the data collected on the subject thus far there seems to be a heavy emotional component."

"Explain." His request was not a question.

Seeing that she might live to see another day if she managed to hold herself together for just a little longer the doctor continued at a faster pace.

"When the subject achieved her initial high level sync ratio her personality seemed to be far above normal standards for her age group. It could be that this played a significant role."

"Suggestions."

"If she were to become more emo…"

"If she were to become more emotional, doctor, she would turn on me."

Absentmindedly taping her chin with the pen she held, her mind scoured every possibility to find the one that may yet save her.

"If she didn't remember anything …"

"Can her memories be selectively purged?"

"No, but we can, however, place several strong memory blocks."

"And they will hold?"

"With the correct medications the memory blocks should remain firm indefinitely. Of course, in her present state it will be necessary to retrain her to her emotions."

Gendou turned away from the now relieved Doctor towards his own thoughts

'This is too delicate a matter to let others handle. I shall have to take care of it personally.'

"Now isn't he caring? If I didn't know bett… No! Not the lance! Not nowwwwwww…" The Angel's voice abruptly cut off.

Rei felt the angel's spiritual presence vanish. With it gone everything blacked out returning her to oblivion.

(Dark Room)

Rei fought desperately against the walls of darkness that blanketed her mind. She slowly managed to struggle her way back to reality. As she became semi-conscious she began to hear voices in the background. One she knew all to well as Gendou while the other sounded like Ritsuko's.

"Can the memory blocks be reinstated?"

Rei heard several pages ruffle as if Dr. Akage was apparently trying to determine the answer.

"It looks like we may be able to tenuously reinstate them, but the angel did a thorough job of obliterating the present ones. If it had had a couple more minutes we would have been unable to even reestablish a rudimentary block."

"Will it hold until she is needed?"

"If we were to double the medications and make sure she is not stimulated in subjects resembling the blocked memories it should remain stable."

"Very well, proceed."

Rei's mind began to recede with this last exchange. 'No, they are mine, my memories…'

End Chapter 2

Post-authors note: Sorry about the dark atmosphere in this one. It just worked too well into my plot line. Don't worry this is as bad as it should ever get. Anyway, I appreciate any reviews so that I can sharpen my writing. Please keep negative comments in the realm of constructive criticism. I'd also like to hear what you thought was interesting or good about this section.

Thanks,

brindani


	3. ch 3

Authors note: Still looking for pre-reader(s). Until I get some the only person looking this over is me. That means there is a good chance for some kind of error.

Disclaimer: To my knowledge I still do not own either Evangelion or its characters. I'm still hacking I mean working on that. J

"Speaking out loud"

'Thinking internally'

**Through the Mind of One**

by: brindani

Chapter 3

(NERV hospital room #302)

Shinji's unfocused eyes rested on Rei as he mentally questioned the many events that had recently transpired.

'Why father? Why did I have to sit there unable to do anything while Rei cried out in pain? Why did you only decide to help her when she screamed that you had destroyed her world? Was that an angel crucified down there? So many questions but where are the answers? Something isn't right.'

Shinji was so engrossed in his inner turmoil that he didn't notice Rei's slight groan as she brought one hand to her head before opening her eyes. When she saw Shinji sitting beside her looking at her yet seemingly far away, she became intrigued. She quietly sat up on the hospital bed to face him.

"Ikari?"

Shinji practically jumped out of his chair at the unexpected noise. "Rei, I mean your alright…that's uh great."

Rei looked at him in confusion. "Alright? What am I doing here?"

"You mean…you don't remember?"

"Remember what? What has transpired?"

"You…you were attacked by an angel. It seemed to attack your mind. Maybe there were some lasting effects? I should go get Dr Akagi."

Rei barely managed to open her mouth to reply before Shinji had exited at a sprint. Quietly closing her mouth, she pondered Shinji's last statement.

'I was attacked by an angel? Why…why don't I remember?' A deep throbbing began to ripple through her mind as she tried to focus on her last memories. 'I was sent out to fight an angel. A bright …light then then…' Her mind couldn't take any more of the intense pounding that seemed to shake her skull. She raised both hands to clutch her head to ease the pain. As she stopped thinking about the last incident the headache miraculously receded leaving only a small residual pain. When she tried to think about it once more the pain rose in tandem. 'My head. Why does my head hurt when I try to recall anything about the last angel?' She didn't have too long to ponder as the door to her room opened. Both Dr. Akagi and a very worried looking Shinji entered.

"How are you doing today Rei?" Ritsuko asked in an off hand manner as she flipped through her ever present clipboard.

"I am doing well. I do, however, seem to develop a slight headache whenever I try to remember the details of the last angel incident."

'Did Dr. Akagi just flinch at my last statement?' Rei mentally shook her head shrugging it off as her imagination.

Ritsuko casually glanced over the top of her clipboard. "That is to be expected. The last angel attacked your mind which would likely cause headaches whenever thoughts relating to it arose. I wouldn't be too concerned if something similar happens with certain words or thoughts. If this occurs it would be advisable to not think about those subjects. If the pain becomes too intense simply take some more of your medication." Ritsuko briefly stopped, fishing through her pockets and eventually pulling out a small transparent orange bottle of pills to proffer to Rei. "Because of the trauma it will now be necessary for you to take two pills each day, one in the morning and one in the evening. Do you understand?"

Rei looked at the pills held in the doctor's outstretched hand. A sudden reckless urge to knock them as far away from herself as possible welled up. She squashed the feeling as she knew it to be an irrational impulse. 'I have been taking these pills for as long as I can remember. There is nothing about them that would harm me.' Even as she told herself this, her hand shook lightly as she reached for the bottle. With one last thrust she grabbed them retracting her hand.

Shinji looked curiously at Rei's odd behavior. Surly the pills couldn't be that bad?

Dr. Akagi didn't like the way the girl had reacted. There was no other alternative now, but to continue. "We've done all the tests necessary for the moment. You may go home."

(Misato residence that night)

Shinji sat on his bed, zoned out, his SDAT playing through several classical selections. He figured people thought he listened to music simply because he was bored. What they didn't know was that if he ever stopped concentrating on or doing something his mind would invariably turn to painful memories that lurked deep within its darkest recesses. Memories that just hurt too much to deal with. Such as the feeling he felt while the dummy plug system had control over Unit 01 and held Touji's entry plug. 'Pure malice, mindless hatred of anything and everything.' It made him shiver whenever he recalled that terrible loathing that had once enveloped him. No, these should be left buried in the past.

He glanced at his alarm clock which shined 6:28 PM. He took the ear buds out and laid them gently aside with Beethoven's 5th symphony still playing. He rubbed his eyes with one hand before deciding to get a drink.

Misato barely took note of Shinji passing towards the refrigerator. She sat with her NERV uniform still on at the table browsing the most recent physiological observations for the children. 'I hate these things. They always get me so depressed.' She proceeded to scan through the details only focusing on things that caught her attention. She made it a point, however, to pay close attention to the brief recommendations at the end.

First Child: Ayanami, Rei

…Subject has a tendency to respond only when directly questioned indicating predisposition to covering what she considers her true self…

'No joke.'

Recommendations: Subject needs to feel cared for to allow her proverbial walls to lower which will help further positive emotional growth.

'Can't see that happening.'

Second Child: Langly, Asuka

…has a low frustration tolerance which may lead to brash behavior during combat…

'They only figured this out now?'

…has a mind set that everything _menial_, everything except piloting, should be performed by other...

'Yup, that sounds about right.'

Recommendations: Placement of bulletproof glass in examination room would help prevent further injury to psychiatric staff.

'I have a feeling they are still a little riled when she got angry at them these past few sessions.'

Having the subject take more responsibility for day to day maintenance could help develop her understanding of others and how they interact with her.

'Another thing I just can't see happening.'

Third child: Ikari, Shinji

Subject exhibits continuing signs of deepening depression…

Misato stopped reading as she envisioned Shinji's sad face day after day. She didn't want to be further reminded so she skipped directly to the recommendations to try and find a solution rather then focus on the problems.

Recommendations: An enhancement of positive reinforcement in tandem with a reduction in its negative counterpart so that the subject may establish self confidence. If depressive state continues to degrade the chances of an attempted suicide are highly likely.

"You pervert! How dare you try and sneak a peek at me." Asuka's infuriated voice brought Misato's head up to see what the latest incident entailed.

She didn't have long to wait as Asuka stormed through the hall, clad only in a bright red towel, holding a very confused and flustered Shinji in tow.

Asuka shoved Shinji ahead of her so that he hit the table before falling to the floor. Asuka then stomped the rest of the way into the kitchen giving her guardian an angry look. "This stupid idiot was trying to sneak a peek at me again! It's the last straw, Misato. I can't stand his perverted ways any more. He has got to go."

Misato calmly looked down at Shinji as he fumbled in his attempt to regain his feet.

To his credit he managed to reply to Asuka's accusations "I was only trying to get a soda when she walked out of the bathroom. I wasn't trying to peek I swear."

Misato Slowly leaned back in her chair, with a small pout, looking towards the ceiling for several seconds. Her response held a low thoughtful tone.

"Auska, I think you are right." Misato nodding her head once. "That would probably be the best thing for Shinji as well." Shinji's face shot up to look incredulously at what he was hearing. "I'll get everything taken care of by tomorrow."

Asuka's superior smirk grew wider as she spun around on her heels heading towards her room.

"It's about time someone listened to me around here."

Shinji looked timidly at his guardian, his mouth slightly ajar as if he wanted to say something yet nothing seemed to come out.

Misato glancing up at him "You better get to bed Shinji. You are going to have a long day tomorrow."

"Ok, ah… goodnight Misato." His dejectedly murmured as he headed to his room.

(Next day at school)

Shinji did not like this day. Asuka seemed incapable of doing anything except hounding him about his emanate departure and how very happy she would be once he was finally gone.

It truly wasn't Asuka's babbling that upset him. He was well accustomed to tuning her out by now. What made him sad was the thought that he would be moving soon. Misato and yes even Asuka had been the only family he had known for so long. He lay his head down on his desk and gazed at the clock on the far wall. The second hand seemed to mock him as it took an eternity to pass from one tic mark to the next.

'four hours twenty three minutes and forty two seconds until I'll have to move out.' He thought not even noticing the lunch bell ring. Touji was slightly worried as he watched someone he considered to be his best friend fall further into despair.

"Shinji? Shinji!?" Moving his hand back and forth in front of Shinji's eyes finally got the boys attention.

"Wha…what? Oh, Touji, what's up?"

"Lunch. What's wrong Shinji? You've been moping all day."

Shinji inhaled deeply before slowly releasing the air as he turned back to the clock. "I'm going to be moving today."

"Moving?"

"Yes, Misato decided last night that it would be better for me if I moved out."

"It doesn't look like its done wonders for you yet."

Touji knew Shinji was seriously depressed when his last comment didn't even receive a trace of a smile.

"Come on Shinji. Lighten up, no matter where they move you to you'll still have Kensuke and me around."

For the first time that day Shinji smiled lightly as he shifted his gaze back to his friend. "Thanks, Touji."

"No problem man. If you need any help moving just call me up, ok?"

"Sure thing."

Shinji still didn't feel like eating so he returned to his clock gazing.

Class eventually ended. When he glanced around, just before the last bell, he noticed Asuka watching him. He didn't like it when she got that look. It meant she had every intention of making his life miserable. Lucky for him there was one thing that Shinji did much better then Asuka, run. He knew she would eventually catch up at the apartment but at least he wouldn't have to listen to her on the way.

The exact second the bell rang Shinji was up, out of his seat, and racing towards the door.

Asuka seeing her prey escaping followed on his heels.

"Shinji! Get back here!"

Touji watch shaking his head slightly. "I wish Asuka wouldn't do that. Shinji already feels horrible about the whole situation."

Hikari walked over to him so they could walk home together. "Maybe but I know Asuka has feelings for him."

"True, but I don't think her feelings should justify crushing his confidence."

Hikari looked up to him with her brow creased. "Yes, but…"

She didn't get any further as he lightly put a finger against her lips. "Don't worry about it. I'll make sure Shinji is alright. I just hope this move doesn't hurt him too badly."

Hikari's face turned a dark shade of pink at his last action. 'He always did know what to say and do when he cared too.' Hikari thought.

Touji took her hand before they too walked out the door.

(Misato residence)

Shinji leaned against the wall outside their apartment gasping for air. Asuka had almost caught him just past the school gates so he had had to sprint much of the rest of the way. He thought she probably stopped but just to be on the safe side.

Shinji swiped his keycard and entered. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Taking a deep breath he approached his room with trepidation. He sighed in relief that nothing was gone yet. 'The movers must not have come. Maybe they were delayed until tomorrow?' Shinji thought getting his hopes up.

He lay on his bed taking in all that he would be leaving behind. Even the ceiling seemed comforting now. 'I wish I didn't have to go.'

Asuka's voice pierced his brief comfort with its sing song tone.

"Oh, Shinji. We didn't get a chance to finish our little chat." Shinji closed his eyes knowing he wouldn't hear the end of this until he was long gone.

He heard Asuka's door roll open. When she didn't immediately come back to his door he became slightly confused. 'She has never missed an opportunity to rag on me yet. What could have stopped her this time?'

Shinji's curiosity got the better of him as he decided to take a little peek. When he opened the door just a sliver so he could see out he saw something that rather surprised him. Opening the door a little further just to make sure he wasn't imagining things he looked again. Yes, Asuka was standing in the middle of her room with her backpack hanging forgotten in one hand. What was curious was that the only other things in her room were a small bed, that didn't look like Asuka's, and a medium sized box off to one side.

"What happened to my room? Where's all my stuff?" Asuka asked in a dazed voice.

Shinji forgetting his previous desire to be no where near the red headed girl for a century or two walked into the room as well. Yup, the room definitely lacked the utter chaos that typically decorated it.

The Asuka turned statue remained there for nearly a minute after she last spoke before her eyes narrowed into a menacing glare.

"MISATO!" Asuka yelled giving Shinji no warning as she violently shoved him to the ground as she flew by him.

The person in question stepped out of her own room miserably attempting to stop a large yawn from escaping.

"Those dumb movers got the wrong room. I want my stuff back here NOW!"

Misato leaned slightly onto the wall as she stretched out her arms and blinked sleepily at Asuka in mild confusion.

"No, they got the right room."

"What?" Her whispered voice felt very dangerous to Shinji. He decided getting dinner started may be in his best health interest. He couldn't help a little smile as hope began to grow at what he had just heard.

"Ya, just like you said last night this situation had to be rectified."

Enthusiasm suddenly lit the second's face.

"You mean… I finally get to get out of this rat hole? This new place had better have good room service, spacious, definitely a big pool."

Misato abruptly cut her off

"Actually you'll be exchanging with one of the other NERVE employees."

Asuka frowned slightly "Which one?"

Before Misato could answer the doorbell rang.

"Could you get that Asuka?" Misato asked as she stretched once more trying to wake up from the sound nap she had been disturbed from. 

"Have Shinji do it. That's about all he's good for."

"Sorry, Asuka I'm getting dinner ready." Shinji called from the kitchen

"What a pathetic excuse." Asuka mumbled to herself as she turned towards the door as it sporadically rang every couple of seconds. She was a little startled when she opened the door to find Rei Ayanami, with her school uniform still on, standing with a piece of paper held loosely in her right hand.

"What do you want Wondergirl?"

Misato, slightly more awake, joined Asuka by the door.

"Oh, Rei, please come in."

Asuka gave Rei the evil eye as she walked past which Rei gave no indications of noticing.

As the three came into the front living room Shinji walked in with his nose stuck in one of his various cook books working in autopilot mode.

"Asuka, I thought you might like steak for dinner with…Rei?" Shinji stumbled mid-sentence as he took note of the pilot of Unit 00 when he lowered his book for a second.

Asuka didn't even glance in Shinji's direction before swiping the paper Rei held. "What's this thing?" Asuka mumbled before looking down to read the message. It was rather short and simple. "Effective immediately: Report to Katsurage residence for new living quarters."

Asuka looked confused for a second before a look of horror bloomed on her face.

"I'm changing with…her?"

"Oh, ya didn't I mention that? Your stuff has already been moved up to her old apartment."

"You…you can't do this. You have no right to move me around at your will."

Misato looked Asuka in the eye with one brow raised. "Actually I have every right. You never showed for that last angel attack two days ago. Rei nearly got killed.

"But I couldn't hear the alarm I was…"

"It doesn't matter where or what you were doing. All that matters is that we make sure you get to headquarters when there is an emergency. To this end you will be restricted to your new residence or school with an escort. This arrangement will continue until I'm sure that I can trust you again."

"But...but It wasn't my fault. This idiot's friend got me mad and..."

"That's another issue that you will work. If you become provoked in the heat of battle you may make a hasty decision that would cost you and countless others their lives." Misato saw the full impact of all her statements really getting to the young girl so she decided to ease up just a bit.

"Don't worry too much Asuka. In a month I'll reevaluate the situation and if you show improvement you may even get a chance at that condo you were just dreaming about. Maids included." Misato added with a grin.

Asuka's lips continually shifted up and down as she digested all this. She was being punished which she despised as she felt it wasn't her fault but if she lived through it she would be in the lap of luxury. Finally she settled for somewhere in between. "Fine, I'm out of here." That said she walked straight through the apartment door.

Shinji, who hadn't moved since entering, watched Asuka's retreating form for a second before turning back towards the kitchen.

"Where are you going Shinji?" Misato asked curiously

"Ah, I think the menu just changed."

End Chapter 3

Post-authors note: No, I'm not knocking Asuka around to take some kind of revenge. It will probably seem like it for the next chapter or two so please bear with me. Reviews are essential at the moment as I have no other feed back. Constructive criticism will help me make this a better fic. Positive reviews will help me stay motivated to continue writing this


	4. ch 4

Authors note: I finally got some pre-readers! Thanks very much to both rgreat and RedMage2k for pointing out a few things that needed changing. Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Eva or its characters no matter how much I'd love to meet the female… I mean cast. 

"Speaking out loud"

'Thinking internally'

**Through the Mind of One**

by: brindani

Chapter 4

Asuka made it all the way to the end of the street before realizing something. 'How the heck am I suppose to know where Wondergirl lives?' She remembered Shinji mentioned something about Rei living in room 402 in a rather dilapidated area, but besides that she didn't have a clue. Not wanting to walk around aimlessly, she headed over to the man with the black suit that had been shadowing her. She knew who he was. The man waited patiently for Asuka as it didn't matter overly much whether the children saw him or any other part of his crew.

"Where the devil is Ayanami's place?" Asuka blatantly threw the question out at the man.

His face was unreadable as he looked down at her through his black shades for a second.

"Follow." He replied in a dry, professional manner, holding no emotion.

'These guys need to get out more.' Asuka thought as she walked after the agent.

They continued to walk for what felt like half the city before stopping. They now stood in front of an old building. Asuka was not happy. "This is the place?"

"Yes."

Asuka turned away from the agent for a moment simultaneously pointing sharply toward the building.

"You expect me to live in this dump?" Not hearing a reply she turned back only to find no trace of the agent. 'One of these days I have got to figure out how they do that.' Sighing with exasperation, she trudged up the steps to her new home.

'Darn, why does Wondergirl have to go and live on the fourth floor of a building that doesn't have a working elevator?' she wondered as she made it up the final flight of stairs, a little out of breath.

Asuka continued along the hall paying close attention to the numbers labeled on the front of each door. 'Let's see, 400, 401, ah 402' She noticed a piece of folded paper taped onto the front of the door. After unfolding the piece of paper, she glanced briefly through its contents.

Official reprimand:

You shall be confined to apartment 402 until further notice.

All food shall be provided by either a nutritional specialist or another appointed by Captain Katsuragi.

All monies shall be frozen until reprimand has been rescinded.

Escort shall be provided for school and NERV activities.

In one month's time, an inspection will reveal whether reprimand will be withdrawn.

This message did not make Asuka very happy. 'Gees, can things get any worse?' Opening the unlocked door, 'They left my stuff in an unlocked room!?' she thought as she moved into the main bedroom, which constituted much of the apartment. She gazed out in disbelief at the numerous stacks of boxes that dominated the small setting. Even her bed was completely hidden from view. 'Great, first they can't bother to get half my stuff into the last apartment and now they haul the remaining boxes out of storage and dump them in here. What were they thinking? It's not like this place has any room to spare.'

She wandered into the kitchen which sent her stomach growling. 'I haven't eaten in awhile. The notice did say food would be provided. Maybe this won't be too bad. I'll have food from a nutritional expert. No grocery shopping or anything.' She flung open one cabinet only to find instant ramen crammed into almost all the space within. She flipped open the next cabinet to find it stuffed with small cans of curry, the next more ramen. 'What kind of nutritional expert would recommend this junk?' After taking a critical look at the familiar generic brand name labeled on the instant noodles contained within she frowned. 'It looks like Misato nominated herself for food specialist. What makes her think that she could be a specialist? Everyone knows just how much her cooking stinks. Maybe she really wanted to make me suffer? No, Misato would have moved in with me to prepare all the meals if they were intent on really punishing me.' She shuddered silently at that last bit of imagery.

'If I can't go anywhere what am I suppose to do, sit around here and twiddle my thumbs?' She happened to see another piece of paper lying on the table covering a book that read

From: Misato

Knew you would be bored, so I left a little present for you.

Asuka looked at the title of the mammoth book and groaned. "Kanji and You: An Introductory Course"

(Misato residence)

Shinji wasn't sure why but he felt in high spirits that morning. 'I'm not moving. Asuka has moved out and Rei has moved in. I wonder what kind of a roommate she will be?'

Shinji slid open his door only to close it immediately. His face grew very pale as he stood hoping he hadn't seen what he thought he saw. "Misato, could you help?" he called desperately.

Misato walked out of her room, catching a brief glimpse of Rei's bare form walking casually through her bedroom door. 'Well that explains Shinji's insistence on calling me.'

Misato lightly tapped on Rei's door before speaking.

"Hey, Rei could you refrain from walking around naked? I think Shinji may have a nervous breakdown."

After nearly a minute, she was about to repeat herself when a soft reply came "Very well, Major."

"Ok, Shinji, it's safe to come out now." Misato watched his door slowly slide open as Shinji hesitantly looked around to make certain of Misato's statement. "Oh, come on Shinji, you know you wanted to see her naked." she said, lightly ruffling his hair before moving towards the kitchen.

"Me? I..I..I would never…"

"It's just too easy to tease you, Shinji," she called from down the hall.

Looking back, Misato chuckled softly as she witnessed Shinji's excellent impersonation of a human tomato.

Shinji remained stunned, standing absolutely still with his mouth hanging half open. At least he was until Rei opened her door fully clothed. She looked at him for a moment. "It may not be pertinent to attend school in such a state." Having said her piece, she proceeded towards the kitchen.

Shinji blinked several times, still getting over the shock of what he had seen. When he looked down, he quickly realized he was only wearing his boxers.

"Ahhhh!" He sharply closed his door.

Rei turned back, at the unexpected noise, to look at his door with her head tilted to the side for a second before continuing on her way.

(School)

Asuka found herself half asleep at her desk as lunch drew near. Her fractured thoughts a direct result of the escapades she had been put through. Yesterday had gone from bad to worse as she attempted to sort the huge pile of boxes. She quickly learned that the number of boxes wasn't her only problem as she was forced to try and decipher the mover's insane method of packing. 'Who puts the toothbrush in one box, the toothpaste in another, and floss in yet another?' After an exhaustive search, she had only managed to find her blanket, three school uniforms, and some toiletries by around 1:00 AM. If that wasn't bad enough, those guys practically knocked down her door at 6:30 AM hustling her off to school. To top it all off, she hadn't had anything to eat since lunch yesterday. It was this last item that her stomach insisted on advising her of constantly. 'Well this was a lousy way to begin _the great move_.'

Shinji sat several seats back and was letting his mind wander aimlessly. 'Asuka looks tired today. Maybe she tried to unpack everything in one night?' He glanced at the clock hanging above the teacher for the hundredth time that hour in expectation of lunch. 'It was kind of fun to cook different things. I hope Rei likes black bean soup and the apricot-nut bread.' He smiled slightly as he recalled her actions at breakfast that morning. 'Who would have figured she had never had blueberry pancakes before?' It was very interesting to watch as she tried the pancakes hesitantly at first, but with a subtle sense of gusto that she couldn't quite manage to hide.

The lunch bell managed to stir Asuka from her contemplation. The only significant differences her food starved mind registered was a marginal growth in hunger and that the sun's position had shifted. With food being top in her mind, the first thing she looked for was Shinji who typically had her lunch. She found him bent over in his seat going through his bag. She stood up to approach him.

"Hey idiot, where's my lunch?"

Shinji jerked up at the unexpected voice from above. "Asuka! I…ah…didn't think you would need one now that you moved."

Asuka had to admit that he had her there. That being the case, she chose her second option for food gratification. "Grrrrr…fine then, I'll just share with Hikari." She looked around to find her next chosen lunch provider. "Where is Hikari?" To her annoyance, Touji answered her.

"She's home sick with the flu."

"What? How did that happen?"

Touji looked at her with a small smile crossing his features before he casually gestured to the half empty classroom where nearly a fourth of the students present were trying to keep down a small cough of their own. "Tis the season."

Asuka couldn't believe this. Hikari was fine just yesterday and without her, she had no other options for lunch. Of course, there was always the cafeteria, but that idea was shot down as she recalled having to look for her lunch when she turned away momentarily. She could have sworn it had run off her plate.

With no other alternatives, Asuka stormed back to her desk, grumbling under her breath. When she sat down, she felt a small wave of nausea. She was unaccustomed to not eating. The nearly constant complaints being issued from below proved this without a doubt.

"Here Rei, I made you lunch." Shinji said, while handing her a thermos, some tasty looking bread, and a small bottle of orange juice.

"Thank you, Shinji. That looks very appetizing." Shinji's blush at Rei's small complement made it even worse for Asuka. 'Why can't this day just be over? For that matter, why can't this month be over? Well, only thirty friggen days until I get out from the residence of the damned and straight into heaven's arms.' With this, she forced all the delightful delicacies swirling in her mind back and imagined just what her new condo would be like.

She managed to sustain herself with these fantasies up until the ending bell rang. The first thought on hearing the bell, was of the food that awaited her back at the apartment. It really hurt to know that she anticipated such low quality food with such relish. Asuka shook herself of that thought and proceeded to the door, where four men in dark suits waited.

"Ms. Soryu, we are to return you to your apartment."

Asuka groaned audibly. She had at least hoped to walk herself home to maintain some dignity, but that didn't seem very likely at the moment. "Ok, ok, lead the way Saheb." Ignoring her jib, the four men nodded simultaneously. Two then took positions in front and two behind her. 'Great now I get to be paraded around like a circus freak!'

Besides the odd spectacle of four black suited men escorting a young fiery haired teenage girl, they made remarkably little commotion as they walked out of the school, with only a half dozen pointing fingers and several condescending remarks. Asuka didn't much care as the slow moving agents progressed through it all. Once they made it to her apartment, the agents left without saying a single word. When she opened her door, her stomach wailed in a war cry as it would be denied no longer.

Three packages of instant noodles later, she felt full for the first time in what felt like days. With her hunger slightly sated, she turned to gaze out at all the boxes that still needed to be unpacked with trepidation.

(Misato Residence)

Shinji sat at the table, his physics homework laid out before him. He wasn't really paying much attention to it. His mind centered on the current situation he now found himself in. In one way, it was an absolute delight. Rei seemed more comfortable around him and she thanked him for his efforts. Better, she never demanded anything from him. On the other hand, he noticed Asuka's very obvious hunger that day. He wished he could help her, but Misato said it would be rude to try and force help on someone, especially when they just moved. He wasn't too sure about that, but Misato's stern stare wouldn't allow for an acceptation. 'I wish I could help her.'

Glancing to the other side of the table, he saw Rei as she worked at an incredible pace on her own homework. She was definitely a nice girl, just like Dr. Akagi had mentioned some time ago. He was just having a difficult time talking to her.

He started slightly when Rei brought her eyes up to meet his.

"Is there a problem Shinji?"

'Have to think of something fast!'

"I was just wondering if you… understood these review questions in physics."

'That was close.' he thought in relief

Rei blinked once before lightly closing her book and coming around the table to stand just behind his shoulder. 'She actually came?'

"What difficulties are you experiencing?"

Shinji eyed the questions in front of him frantically trying to find one that he had difficulty with, yet was hard enough that she wouldn't look down on him. He finally settled for #34.

"This one here."

"The question on static friction?"

"Yes, I didn't quite understand what the difference between static friction and kinetic friction was supposed to be."

"Static friction is the resistive force that prevents a stationary object from moving. Kinetic friction is the resistive force felt by a moving object that decelerates it. For this particular problem, we have a box with us = .34." Rei started to draw a rough diagram detailing all this. Shinji stared in amazement. 'Rei is so good at explaining things.' He had had a lot of difficulty trying to understand these types of problems, but she made them seem so simple.

"Ok, now you try this one." Rei pointed to the next problem that looked similar to the one she had just demonstrated. Shinji looked at it in panic. 'I don't know this. How can I know this?' He was slightly startled when Rei placed her hand on his shoulder, which oddly enough, seemed to calm him. When he looked back to the question, he was amazed that he could see how it was done now. In seemingly no time at all, he worked the problem out perfectly. "Good." Her one word of praise sent a pleasant shiver down his back.

"Have you ever thought of becoming a teacher, Rei? You would be excellent at it." When he didn't hear a reply Shinji turned around to find Rei shifting her head to the side with a small blush.

"Thank you"

'These words, they seem to come so frequently now, with him,' Rei thought

(School)

Asuka wasn't feeling very good. There was only so much ramen you could eat before becoming utterly sick of it. She passed that point some six instant ramen packages back. Her stomach could not endure this much longer.

She also started to notice something that she hadn't before. Every day Shinji brought Rei something new and interesting to eat. She never realized how much she had become dependent on that, when he had done the same for her. With each new culinary delight he made for Wondergirl the more she wanted that part back in her life.

She had been tempted to try and force Shinji to make her a meal, but something deep inside felt it would be wrong. So many warring emotions like this raged within her. The one quickly becoming predominant was that of hunger. She just didn't want to deal with eating the crap they provided her. But the alternative was asking for help, something she loathed to do. It only took one last thought of a 10th straight meal of ramen to settled her next course of action.

Shinji sat in his desk slightly spaced out. He knew Asuka was having problems since moving. He often saw her lying on her desk pretending to be asleep while watching Rei and himself eat with an almost feral expression. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice Asuka's approach to talk to him that first day when she had demanded lunch.

"Hello, Shinji." Shinji was totally caught off guard by the slightly subdued tone coming from her as well as the subtle need that lay just beneath them.

"Hello, Asuka. How has the new apartment been?" Asuka flinched at his question.

"Um, about that do you think you…" Asuka hesitated looking around at the other students several of which were watching their conversation. "Could I talk to you in private?"

"Sure."

That was interesting; he had never expected to hear Asuka _politely_ ask him to do something.

They left the classroom with Asuka starting an immediate search for a secure location. Shinji followed just behind her, his eyes settling on her back. This is how he noticed something very peculiar. 'She's wearing the same clothes? That's odd Asuka never wears wrinkled clothes.'

When Asuka found an empty classroom, she gestured for Shinji to enter, which shook him from his contemplation. Shinji entered the indicated classroom and waited patiently for Asuka to tell him what was going on.

After she closed the door, Asuka turned to look at him. He was amazed to see a warn expression just barely penetrating her usual self assured features, something he had never seen before. "What's wrong Asuka?" he said with concern.

"Shinji, could you come by my place sometime? There's not much there to eat and…and I've missed your cooking." She was rather startled by this last admission as she hadn't planned on saying that.

Shinji looked at Asuka closely. He could see no indication of a lie or intent to tease only a silent cry for help.

"Sure Asuka, I can drop by sometime later tonight."

Asuka offered the best smile she could, "Thanks."

(Apartment 402)

Shinji hesitantly knocked at the door. Almost immediately it swung open revealing Asuka still in her school uniform. He was stunned. She looked so much apart of the surroundings of the drab apartment. It was obvious that being confined had had a profoundly negative effect on her.

Her eyes instantly lit up when she saw the small bag of sub sandwiches that he carried.

"Is that…food?"

He smiled slightly and nodded. "Ya, I tried to bring something filling."

"Please come in," she said, her eyes never wavering from the bag. Shinji looked sadly at the surroundings. Dozens of boxes laid strewn around the apartment in various stages of disassembly.

When he sat the bag down on the kitchen table, Asuka's hands started to twitch almost imperceivable. "Go ahead, Asuka, I made two large ones for us to eat." Asuka needed no more invitation as she opened the bag and began to tear into the first sandwich.

Shinji looked at Asuka sadly. 'She must have been starving. Didn't they provide her with food here?' Seeing that Asuka was oblivious to her surroundings, Shinji turned towards the cabinets to figure out why the red headed pilot would be so famished. When he saw their contents his frown grew. 'This is no way to live. There isn't anything of nutrition value here at all. No wonder she was so hungry.' Glancing around he noticed a sink full of dishes. It seemed that Asuka had found some dish soap and a washrag, but had been too tired to use them past that point.

A little later, Asuka ate the last bite of the second sandwich and sighed contentedly. She had almost forgotten what real food tasted like. Her stomach felt nice and fuzzy in total agreement. It took a second to realize that the person responsible for her first real meal in four days was not at the table. She also realized that she had eaten his sandwich. 'I didn't mean to do that.'

She glanced around and found all her dishes clean and sitting out to dry. 'He…did the dishes?' She heard some noise in the other room, so she decided to take a peek. She found Shinji sorting the contents of several boxes into coordinated piles. She leaned against the doorframe watching him. For once she truly appreciated what he was doing.

She went over and tentatively laid a hand on his shoulder. His flinch made her realize she had done some nasty things to him in the past. She couldn't blame him for his reaction. "Thank you Shinji…for everything."

He turned his head to her and truly smiled. It was the first real smile she could remember him directing towards her. An odd feeling seemed to move through her. Asuka found it very confusing. 'Is this feeling friendship? Or is it something more?'

"Sorry, I noticed that there were way too many boxes for you to move around easily. I was thinking that we could try to sort them out into useful piles of what you need and don't need, so we can get the excess stuff into storage. That should give you more room around here."

Shinji missed it, but Asuka smiled for the second time since coming to the apartment….

End Chapter 4

Post Authors Note: This is a rather important chapter to how things will later play out. It therefore becomes essential to know exactly how the reader views the current situation and what is going on. To this end please review. Positive remarks or Constructive criticism would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

brindani


	5. ch 5

Authors note: I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed my story so far. Without your help I would not be able to tell if my message is being conveyed correctly or not. They also form a good source of motivation to continue on. I would also like to thank rgreat, Ryv, and RedMage2k for pre-reading. A big thanks goes out to idcallie for the significant help dealing with grammar. Disclaimer: Don't own Eva or the characters. Never have, never likely to. As always: 

"speaking out loud"

'thinking internally'

**Through the Mind of One**

by: brindani

Chapter 5

(Misato residence)

Shinji wasn't very happy about Asuka's cruel predicament and he wanted to help. It just didn't seem right for her to be stuffed into a cramped little apartment with all those boxes and be forced to eat ramen for every meal. He was so engrossed trying to come up with some good arguments to persuade Misato to change her mind that he didn't notice her sitting on the couch, watching his arrival, until she spoke. "So, how was Asuka?"

He jumped at her unexpected voice. "How did you know I was at Asuka's?"

Misato smiled and took another swig of the beer she held in her right hand before replying "You forget, Shinji, I have Asuka's apartment under constant observation. I know about anyone that goes in or out." Her comment reminded him of the arguments he had come up with. Shinji was about to go into detail when Misato preemptively cut him off. "By the way, a moving truck will be waiting at Asuka's apartment after school tomorrow to pick up any extra boxes."

Shinji stared at her dumbfounded. 'How did she know what I was thinking?'

"Uh… ok. But Asuka needs better food. She has practically nothing over there to eat."

Misato looked down at her beer, slowly twirling it back and forth with a small frown. "It couldn't be helped really. I couldn't find a specialist in nutrition, so I was forced to order the groceries myself." Shinji looked upset at Misato.

'How can she say that so casually? Doesn't she care about Asuka at all?'

"Of course, if I could find someone to manage the grocery shopping for me, I wouldn't mind letting them take over."

Shinji blinked. "I could do that."

Misato looked up as if inspiration had just hit her. "Oh, you would do that Shinji? You would be perfect for the job, you know all about nutrition. So it's settled then, you will be responsible for ordering Auska's groceries." Shinji looked at her bright smiling face even more dumbfounded than before. This was just a too much. He had expected, at the very least, a heavy argument and here she was handing everything to him on a silver platter.

With the details behind this newest situation swirling through his mind, Shinji decided it might be a good idea to get a drink. "Ok, thanks" Shinji shook his head, trying it of the confusion, before turning towards the kitchen.

"Sure thing, Shinji." Misato said absently while hiding a small satisfied smile behind the beer she held.

In the kitchen, Shinji found Rei sitting at the table with several neat stacks of paper beside her.

"Hey Rei, what are you up to?"

Rei briefly glanced at him. "…the essay due this Friday."

Shinji went over to look at the various papers that lay before her. He was rather impressed by the nice and neat handwriting. Taking a cursory glance over one of the pages, he noticed several places where a small rephrasing could convey her meaning a little better.

"If you like we could work on it together?" He offered with a hopeful smile.

Rei looked at him, her head tilted to the side. "That will not..." she stopped herself. looking at his sudden disappointed face from the expected rejection. "That would be…appreciated." A light blush bloomed on her face when Shinji's face split into a wide, almost childlike, smile.

(School)

It was nearing the end of the day. As usual, the students were doing everything from sleeping to messaging each other, everything except listening, of course. Asuka sat in her desk in a happy mood. Hikari had finally felt well enough to return to school. That meant Asuka could eat lunch with her, making for a nice change.

As the bell rang, everyone started to get up, more then ready to leave the dull lecture behind. Asuka had almost made it to the waiting agents before Shinji remembered something.

"Hey Asuka! Wait up, I have something to tell you."

Asuka stopped and turned around with a questioning expression. "What is it Shinji?"

"I forgot to tell you that Misato appointed me as your new nutritional expert. I've already placed an order for groceries that should arrive at your apartment sometime tonight."

Asuka's face lit up. "You mean no more ramen?! That's wonderful!" She said, grabbing Shinji into a spontaneous hug. She was so happy it took nearly five seconds for her to realize what she had done. Hastily, she stepped back. "Got a little carried away, I guess."

"Uh, that's alright." He shuffled his feet for a second before remembering what else he needed to say. "Oh before I forget, Misato said that she would have a truck outside your apartment after school to move those boxes." He stood awkwardly, trying to summon up enough courage to continue. "Would you like some help?"

"Oh, if you insist." Asuka said in mock agitation, quickly turning away hoping to hide a rising blush. Unfortunately for her, someone else caught it.

"Hey Shinji, you two making a little love nest?" Touji hollered from across the room. The comment sparked numerous laughs from all sides, making both of their cheeks flare bright red.

"It's… not like that." Shinji managed to stammer with his head down. Atypical of Asuka, she didn't even bother to reply. This might have had something to do with Hikari elbowing Touji in the side. He gave a little grunt, but didn't seem displeased. Shinji, seeing Asuka leaving without him, rushed out the door to catch up.

The agents stood by, watching these events take place. They had been informed that the nutritional expert would be allowed to escort the subject if he so desired. As this was the case, their presence became unnecessary, thus they departed to take up their other duties.

Hikary, never noticed the agents leave, turned angrily towards Touji. "What do you think you are doing!? You just embarrassed Asuka in front of everyone for no reason." With that, she spun around to leave the room herself, making it very clear that she wouldn't he wouldn't be allowed to walk her home even after her long absence.

Touji looked after her. "Gees, the sacrifices I make for that guy. I just hope he ends up choosing right. Oh well, guess I had better head to the candy store to pick up some chocolates and maybe…" Touji rambled on, forming his plans to regain Hikari's good graces.

(On the street outside Apartment 402)

When Shinji and Asuka arrived, they found a large moving truck sitting in front of the apartment. The driver jumped out of his seat as he saw them approach. "Hello, would you be…" He paused briefly to take a glance at his schedule sheet. "…Ms. Asuka Langley Soryu?"

"Ya, that's me."

"I've got your delivery here."

"Delivery? I thought you were going to take the boxes we packed up."

"Yes, ma'am, I am, but I was also instructed to deliver these boxes to you. It seems they were sent to the wrong address by mistake. We only figured it out yesterday." He finished with an apologetic smile.

Asuka glanced inside the truck. The detailed labels on the boxes left her a little stunned. "These are all my clothes. So this is where they have been all this time."

Shinji saw Asuka's eyes quickly glaze over as she gazed longingly at all the boxes. 'She'll take them all, if I don't do something fast.' "Asuka, how about you pick a few of these and leave the rest? I mean, we just managed to get some breathing room up there, there's no need to fill it up so soon."

Asuka cast one last longing look at the boxes before turning back. "Oh I suppose. I'll start sorting here. Could you start bringing some of the boxes we packed last night down?"

Shinji nodded, with a smile. He appreciated Asuka asking him nicely for a change. 'Her smile is kinda nice too.' He thought absently. "Ok, I'll get started on that."

Asuka was very proud of herself as she browsed through the great heap of boxes that represented her substantial wardrobe. She only picked out the ones that she felt she would need. 'Casual clothes, a box of formal dresses, some school uniforms. These sundresses looked nice on me. Extra undergarments…"

Periodically, she would hear a small grunt as Shinji put down several more boxes outside. When Asuka was done, she looked at her selection, very satisfied that most of the boxes were in the "to go" pile. When she hopped out of the back of the truck, she found several neat stacks of boxes nicely lined up against the truck 'Wow, he is fast.'

She then started up the stairs to help out. What she found along the way was both a little amusing and distressing to her. Shinji was carrying three obviously heavy boxes by himself. He stopped when Asuka stepped in front of him. "You know you don't have to take that many at once, right?"

"Sure, but the faster we go the quicker we finish."

Asuka smiled. "Give it a rest why don't you? It's not like we are in a rush or anything. I don't want you breaking your back here," she said before taking the top box from his arms.

After that, time seemed to fly by as they continued their box deposits. At least until the phone rang.

Asuka picked it up while wiping some sweat from her brow. "Hello?"

"May I speak with Shinji?" Rei's voice came through the phone.

"Hey Shinji, Wondergirl's on the line." Asuka called in an irritated voice, which Shinji completely missed.

"Ok, I'll be right there." After running the last flight of stairs, Shinji took the phone, a little out of breath. "Hello?"

"Major Katsuragi has requested your presence in the kitchen."

Shinji glanced at his watch and winced. "Oh shoot, I totally lost track of the time. I'll be right there, ok?"

"That will be acceptable."

Shinji put down the phone. "Asuka? I have to get going."

Asuka put down the box she was holding and walked over.

"Thanks for helping, Shinji." With that, she leaned over and lightly hugged him. "There, that should be good for payment," she said after releasing him.

"yy…a, ssssure." He stuttered in response before visible shaking towards the door. He was so distracted that he never noticing the annoyed expression that quickly grew on Asuka's face.

(School)

Asuka was deliberating with herself as the time for the last bell approached. 'It was nice to just talk with someone, maybe he wouldn't mind coming again today?'

Her mind made up, she stood to approach Shinji.

"Hey, Shinji, do you want to walk home with me today?"

Shinji smiled and was about to reply when a hand lightly settled on his shoulder. Turning, he found Rei looking into his eyes.

"Shinji, we are to study for the test tomorrow and we are to continue our mutual assistance with the essay."

Shinji's smile grew a little brighter "Oh ya, I almost forgot." He returned his attention to Asuka. "I'm sorry Asuka, Rei is going to help me study for that physics test tomorrow and we're helping each other out with our essays."

Without a second glance, both Shinji and Rei walked out together.

'Rei this, Rei that. What's so great about that Wonderdoll?' Asuka didn't know why, but she was becoming a little frustrated. Typically, she released such frustration on Shinji. This time, however, it didn't seem appropriate. Now she just had to figure out what to do…

(The streets of Tokyo 3)

Shinji and Rei walked together towards the apartment they now shared with Misato. 'It feels kind of nice to walk with Rei' Shinji thought to himself. Shinji happened to glance off to the side at a small park they were passing. In it there were some large toys for children and a sturdy swing set. When he saw this last item, Shinji got an idea.

"Have you ever been on a swing, Rei?"

Noticing his movements divert from their original course, she responded. "Shinji, we have studying…"

"Have you?"

"No, it is not a pertinent activity."

"If you've never tried it, how could you know?"

"It serves no logical purpose other then the rise and fall of a person going nowhere."

"Many things serve no purpose, but are still fun and interesting anyway. Do you want to give it a go?" Rei looked doubtful at the swing and then back to Shinji with a reluctant expression. After a few seconds Shinji decided he needed to continue his argument. "How about this, you try it and if don't like it, then we'll stop, but only if you give it a chance."

Rei looked slightly annoyed or at least as annoyed as she ever did. But seeing, as Shinji didn't look like he was going to let up on the matter, she decided to humor him for the few minutes it would take to confirm her original assessment of this pointless activity. She proceeded to walk over to one of the swings, followed closely by Shinji. She seated herself and waited a little impatiently for instruction. She wasn't quite expecting the large push from behind that forced her to strengthen her grip on the chain. She went up for a little, then came back down where she received another larger push sending her higher yet. She quickly got over her initial surprise as she felt the wind blow through her hair and the exhilaration as she went higher and higher. She lost herself in the experience letting herself be enwrapped within the sensations . She was rather disappointed when the pushes ceased and she slowly came to a stop.

"Why did you stop?" She asked curiously as she turned towards him.

Shinji was panting next to her, but managed to raise his head to meet her eyes. "We've been here for nearly fifteen minutes, Rei."

Rei gazed at him puzzled. "Are you sure that we have been here that long?"

"Yes, see." He said holding up his watch for her to confirm.

"It did not seem that long." She said absently.

"Time flies when you're having fun." Shinji said happily before turning around to pick up both of their bags.

'Fun? Yes,that was…fun.' Rei assessed briefly, rather startled with this new experience.

(Misato's apartment)

Shinji and Rei sat side by side, working on their essays. Shinji had already helped Rei reform her essay to better express her ideas. Rei, on the other hand, had explained Newton's third law and a specific aspect of thermal expansion. Rei didn't really understand why, but the topic seemed to illicit a bright blush from Shinji, especially when she had difficulty finding a real example to help him with the concept. Eventually, both ended up working on their seperate essays in the other's company.

Shinji was feeling prepared for the physics exam. It was the first time he had ever felt so in his life. Heck, earlier that day he had managed to help some of his classmates with several problems, while Rei looked on with…a sense of pride? He was never quite sure with her, but it kind of looked like that.

The phone rang.

"I'll get it." Shinji said. Rei merely nodded without shifting her attention. "Hello, Katsuragi residence."

"Hey, Shinji, that you?" Asuka's voice asked

"Ya, what's up, Asuka?"

"Could you walk home with me tomorrow?" Shinji frowned. He had really hoped to surprise Rei by treating her to an ice-cream cone on the way home from school tomorrow. Not hearing a reply, Asuka quickly continued before he could refuse. "Don't worry, Wondergirl can tag along if she likes. I'm just sick of the goon squad manhandling me home everyday."

"Just a sec." Shinji put down the phone to look over at Rei. "Rei? Asuka wants to know if we could walk home with her tomorrow after school. What do you think?"

Rei looked up and seemed to consider for a moment before nodding her head in consent promptly returning to the paper beneath her.

"Sure Asuka, Rei doesn't have any problem with that."

"What is she your owner now?"

Shinji blinked in surprise. "No, but it's good to know if she wants to come or not."

"Gees, I was just kidding. Anyway thanks for helping me have at least one day without being marched all over town."

"Sure, see you tomorrow." He then set the phone down before returning to the table.

(School)

"So how do you think you did?" Touji asked with a small scowl on his face.

"I think I aced it" Shinji said very pleased with himself as the final bell rang. He felt like he had breezed right through the physics test.

"Aced it? You?" Kensuke asked in disbelief.

Shinji simply smiled, ignoring their continued incredulous comments. 'Everything seems to be going right for a change. Asuka seemed very happy about the new food I ordered. She's even trying to cook now.' He briefly fought to prevent a smile from forming when several comical images of the likely charred results came to mind. It took a little while to settle down from that mental assault. 'Rei is even opening up to new experiences. She seems to be actually enjoying them too,' he finished with a happy expression.

Shinji contemplated all this while packing his various second impact textbooks. At the same time Asuka came up to him from behind. "There is something I need to discuss with Wondergirl. Why don't you wait for us at the school gates?" She said almost casually to Shinji.

"But I thought…" Shinji tried to say as he turned around to face her.

"Don't worry, we won't be long." Asuka assured him, giving him a small push to help him out the door.

"Well, ok" Shinji briefly shrugged before continuing to exit the classroom, taking a little time to tell the agents that he would walk Asuka home.

Asuka then turned to Rei with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Shall we?"

Rei hesitantly nodded rather curious as to why Asuka would wish to converse with her.

They walked out of the classroom, turning in the opposite direction Shinji had. Since Asuka remained silent, Rei decided to find out what was going on.

"What did you wish to discuss?"

"Hold on, I know a place where we won't be disturbed."

'Disturbed?' Rei thought silently as they entered a good sized grove that rested next to school grounds. They continued into the brush until they came across a small clearing. Asuka stopped and spun around to face Rei.

"Ok, Wondergirl, what is going on between you and Shinji?"

Rei tilted her head. "There is nothing…"

"Don't give me that crap. You forced Shinji to leave two days ago when you called and yesterday you deliberately sidetracked him from walking home with me."

Rei stood considering. Asuka's already frayed temper was beginning to quickly boil over. "Shinji and I…we are friends." The trace of pink on Rei's face snapped Asuka's patience. She shot forward, her school dress bellowing out behind her as she raced the short distance across the glade. Rei automatically shifted her weight bringing her arms into a fighting stance. Gracefully, she dodging the first punch and ducked under the foot going through where her head once was. She rolled away from the next punch. At the end of her roll she pushed off with her arms sending her feet flying directly towards Asuka's stomach forcing her to twirl out of the way. Asuka quickly recovered sending a foot where Rei should have come up. Instead of coming up, however, Rei turned in mid-air landing in a squatting position instantly pushing off with her toes to shoot herself right by Asuka's kick in perfect alignment for an uppercut. Asuka barely managed to block, the momentum forcing her to take a few steps back.

Rei stood several feet away, already back in her fighting stance. "Why are you doing this Soryu?"

Asuka's only reply was to jump back in with a fierce scream. Her anger almost seemed tangible as a fierce fire surrounding her. The cool calculated precision Rei used to block and counter seemed to lend her a similar feeling of being enwrapped in ice.

Asuka's hand snapped out. Once again, Rei ducked out of the way, but Asuka delivered a back kick faster then expected, managing to score a hard hit on Rei's side. Rei grunted before going to her knees. Asuka stepped a little away. "What's wrong? Does Commander Ikari's little dolly have a booboo?" Rei cried out bringing her hands to her head. "Give me a break. Your precious commander can't help you now."

At the second mention of the commander Rei abruptly stopped her squirming. When she looked back up, Asuka took an involuntary step back. She had never seen such a fierce gaze.

She quickly regained her composer "Looks like I might actually get a workout out of this yet." Asuka said as Rei slowly stood. Rei didn't stay there long as she shot forward sending a vicious kick straight at Asuka. What seemed like ice before flashed into a blazing flame of emotional rage. Kicks and punches blurred towards Asuka, unbelievable fast. Asuka was no longer smug as it took everything she had simply to block. Each successive attack came faster then the last making her defense more desperate by the second.

In less than fifteen seconds, Asuka's defenses shattered. She suffered a hit to the thigh followed swiftly by a kick to the stomach and, finally, a hard side kick to the head. This last completely stunning Asuka. She stood dazed and disoriented barely holding onto consciences.

Everything seemed to slow as Rei's fist started directly towards Asuka's temple, in a potentially lethal strike. Asuka could see it coming, knew it meant serious trouble, but she could not seem to move. Just before the punch reached her, a blurred form ran in front of Asuka covering her body with his own.

"REI!" Shinji cried out.

Rei's fist stopped, millimeters from Shinji's head. Rei looked dazed at her own fist. "Shinji? What…what is happening?" She managed to say before returning her hands to her head, shouting in agony only to abruptly faint. Shinji barely managed to catch her while keeping Asuka upright.

As Shinji attempted to stager out of the grove, carrying both girls, he didn't notice the small glint coming from a nearby shrub. Hiding behind the shrub Kensuke was catching everything with his video recorder.

(Deep within Terminal Dogma)

Gendou remained unmoving as he watched the fight between Rei and Asuka.

"It seems that he found something useful for once. Why did you request him to do this anyway?" Fuyutsuki asked

"All of our agents may be able to keep a watch on the children but only from a distance making it difficult to observe their actions and behaviors up close. What better way to observe them then by a friend?"

"I see, how did you manage to get him to do it?"

"A simple thing, the promise to become the pilot of the next Eva with reassurances that his mission was important to the children's safety, is all it took."

"I'm sure you failed to mention that no other Eva's are likely to be delivered."

Gendou merely smirked beneath his crossed hands.

"It looks like this one's memory blocks won't last much longer. Should I proceed to activate a new one?" Fuyutsuki continued

"No."

"What? If she gets her memories back, it could cause problems."

"Rei is not replaceable."

"But the spare parts, the dummy plug system?"

"Rei's purpose lies beyond merely piloting Eva. None of the clones have the necessary spark to fulfill that purpose."

"What do you plan to do then?"

"For now, nothing. Any overt action could break what little remains of my control over her. That would be…inconvenient."

(Hospital room)

Shinji sat with a worried expression between two of the most important people in his life. Rei lay on his left, Asuka on his right. He didn't know what had happened back there, but he was very glad he had seen them entering the glad or he might have been too late. 'I've never seen Rei that…enraged. What could Asuka have done to provoke that?'

He looked up as Asuka slowly brought herself up into a sitting position. "Where am I?"

"The hospital. Asuka, what happened back there?"

Asuka instantly became focused. "I…that is we…"

"Had a disagreement." Rei finished as the room's two other occupants noticed her beginning to sit up as well.

"About what?"

Rei looked at Asuka as she fidgeted not quite looking at her. "It was of no consequence." Asuka brought her head up quickly in surprise. "I believe we have settled our dispute for the time being." Asuka just stared, shocked by her response.

Shinji could tell something didn't add up, but as both seemed to want to drop the matter, he thought he might as well too.

A nurse entered the room. "Is there a Shinji Ikari here?"

Surprised, Shinji stood up. "Yes, that's me."

"You have an urgent telephone call, here" The nurse finished handing him a cell phone.

"Yes?" Shinji spoke into the phone. .

"The next angel has appeared." Gendou's cold voice answered before hanging up.

Shinji looked out the window next to him where he could see, far off in the distance, a small bright circle slowly flying their way. "Oh, no."

End chapter 5

Post-authors notes:

Well we can finally look forward to a little more action happening. As always your reviews are deeply appreciated and help me immensely in adjusting my story. They also help with motivation too which is nice.

Thanks,

brindani


	6. ch 6

Authors note: Been awhile. Can't say there's been much of an excuse, just graduating finding a job, relocating. You know, the small stuff. As always a big thanks to rgreat, Rvy, and Sessha for pre-reading and helping to point out some of my more obvious mistakes. Disclaimer: Don't own Eva or its characters. I've offered to share it with them, but they haven't returned my calls for some reason. 

"Speaking out loud"

'Thinking internally'

**Through the Mind of One**

by: brindani

Chapter 6

A wisp of dust rose on a mountain outside of Tokyo 3. It was an ordinary bit of dust that traveled along its way only to be stopped short by a large red foot. The foot stretched far above to where Unit 02 stood, not moving an inch. Two kilometers away, on the opposing mountain, squatted an equally motionless Unit 00 behind a large outcropping of rock. No sound was heard for several minutes until Misato's voice broke the silence within each cockpit.

"Ok, the angel appeared several miles away unexpectedly. It is traveling very slowly; we expect it to get to Tokyo 3 in roughly half an hour. We have no information at this stage, so here is the plan: Asuka will intercept the angel in roughly ten minutes. The Evas' AT fields will remain inactivate to avoid preemptive detection. Once the angel passes, Asuka will distract it with a close range volley to disorientate it. Asuka, you will avoid contact while you sortie. Your main objective here is to take down the angel's AT field. Once the AT field is down, Rei will snipe from her mountain position. You both will have to stay frosty, if this first attack works then that's great, if it doesn't then the angel will react in an unexpected manner. We can then formulate a different strategy based on the new information. Do both of you understand?" Misato spoke directly to the two images; one of Rei with her eyes closed and another with Asuka who was absently playing with a lock of her hair in a bored manner.

"Yes"

"Ya, whatever."

"Um, Misato. Why am I still down here?" Shinji asked as a third picture appeared from his cockpit before her.

Misato sighed in exasperation. "For now, the commander wants you held in reserve in the cage."

"But..." Shinji hesitantly turned to look at the other two pilot's images as they focused for the upcoming battle.

"Give it a rest, Shinji. A good one-two shot and it will all be over. Wondergirl won't have a chance to even get a shot off." Asuka commented with a large smirk and two raised thumbs aimed at him.

"Soryu is correct; we have a tactical advantage consisting of both numbers and foreknowledge of the terrain's layout. There is no reason to be concerned of our success."

'But we've had that advantage every single time and they always gain the upper hand'. Despite this line of thought, Shinji's face relaxed a little at their confident words.

"Asuka, you are to..." Misato said as she began to remind the errant red headed pilot of the battle plan.

"Ya, ya, distract it and take its AT field down. I heard you the first time." 'Doesn't mean I can't get in a few hits while I'm at it.'

Everyone diverted their attention from the red head's clamor, nervously waiting for the angel to make its appearance. It did so very slowly as it crept into view from behind another mountain.

Asuka had been briefed on the description of the angel, but she wasn't very impressed. Compared to the some of the other angels this one's plain white circular form made of what resembled a DNA strand was a joke. 'cheese cake' She thought with an evil grin. Her hawk like eyes traced the angel's path never wavering, waiting until...

"Ahhhh" Asuka yelled at the top of her lungs as she literally surfed down the mountain side, raising thick brown clouds of dust behind her. Halfway down and the angle still made no evasive movement.

'Yes, this will be an easy kill. The one I've waited for to show everyone my skill and prowess. And Shinji...' Without thinking, Asuka deployed her AT field for the upcoming strike.

Instantly the white circular form stopped and began to shimmer, as its DNA like strand shrank into a pure white beam. Disconnecting itself, it formed a long lithe snakelike form. Its faceless head reared up, strengthening the snakelike appearance. She was concentrating so much on her internal musings that Asuka took little note of this change. This was a big mistake she found out about too late. Asuka made a large jump into the air preparing to perform a mortal strike. The angel didn't wait for her arrival. It struck out, viper like, straight into Unit 02's midriff. Asuka barely managed a startled yelp before the sudden impact forced both Eva and angel to careen out of control. With a thunderous crash Unit 02 landed headfirst into the opposing mountain.

"Asuka!" Shinji shouted in fear.

"Asuka, report. What is your status?" When no reply came, Misato turned towards Maya who was currently monitoring the pilot's life signs. "Maya, what is her condition?"

"She is unconscious Major."

"Damn."

The unfazed angel, meanwhile, began to slowly worm its way, inch by inch, into the Eva's body. Little vein like tendrils spread from the angel's entry point, growing bigger as the angel managed to further its progress.

"Major! Asuka is going into a seizure." Indeed the image of Asuka showed a similar effect to that of the Eva around her. Her face was curved in pain despite her unconscious state.

"Misato. Let me up there." Shinji's worried voice demanded.

"Unit 01 shall remain in cryofreeze." Gendou's frigid refusal was absolute.

"Rei! Distract the angel. Get it away from Unit 02." Misato's command came out as little more then a growl in distaste at the commander's continuing decision.

From her sniper's nest midway up the side of the opposing mountain, Unit 00 began to fire enormous slugs at the angel with her Eva's sniper rifle. The shots tore down with a vicious screech, sailing straight and true directly on target, only to ricochet harmlessly off the enormous AT field protecting the angel's body.

Idea after countless idea raced through Rei's mind as she desperitly tried to find a way to buy a few precious seconds to save the other pilot. A realization came to her then, 'It can't see, it reacted only when Asuka's AT field was raised!' Abruptly she threw down her rifle and slid off the side, bringing her AT field to full strength. At first, the angel didn't seem to take note of the approaching menace. As she rocketed closer, it stopped merging with Unit 02. Gracefully, Rei leaped, landing just outside striking range. The opposing end tried to launch itself at her, coming within meters before it could converge no more. Apparently frustrated by the close loss, the angel began to back out of its current host.

"Asuka's seizures have stopped" Maya reported with relief as the small tendrils started to dissipate. Most let out the breath they didn't know they had been holding. The respite didn't last long once the angel freed itself. Its restricted motion was abruptly unhindered allowing it to shoot out at inhuman speed straight at Unit 00. Having seen a similar maneuver used against Unit 02, she was prepared. Rei arched Unit 00 into an enormous leap that went far above the coming threat. With equal grace, Unit 00 came down in a artful tumble which she dashed out of into a sprint in the opposite direction.

The angel wasn't far behind as it turned an abrupt 180 and zipped after the retreating form. Just as it was about to hit, Rei dived to the side, forcing the angel to pass it once more. The reprieve was short lived as it corrected itself almost instantly and smashed itself against Unit 00's AT field. It was all Rei could do to hold it back with the full strength of her AT field and yet it was worming its way slowly towards Unit 00's midsection.

"Status of Unit 02's pilot?" Gendou asked in a perfectly calm manner.

"She's still unconscious, sir." Maya opted automatically

"Very well, the cryofreeze on Unit 01 has been lifted. Deploy the unit immediately."

"Yes, Sir. Shinji, head to the fifth catapult. When you get to the surface, raise your AT field to distract it. Rei, as soon as Unit 01 raises its AT field, drop your's and circle around it. With both of you interchanging your AT fields we might be able to confuse it.

"Got it." Shinji said as he headed to the catapults. With a jerk he was launched upwards, soon afterwards, he shot out of the ground simultaneously raising his AT field. "REI! Drop it now!"

Rei's AT field abruptly ceased.

Instead of the angel going after Unit 01, however, it shot straight into Unit 00 raising a cry of agony from its pilot.

"Damn it! Shinji get in there and kill it with your AT field lowered."

Unit 01 landed with a loud crash from its catapulted leap and began to blur, as it ran at the angel in a purple streak. His hands flew out to strike with his prog knife only to be forced to dodge an attack from the angel, as its opposing end swung out at him.

"Is his AT field up?" Misato asked.

"No ma'am."

"Damn, it must be able to sense the Eva at close range.

Through squinted eyes, Rei watched as Shinji barely dodged a sever thrust from the angel. "No..." She managed to mumble slipping into unconsciousness.

(Rei's mind)

Rei stood on an apparent island, surrounded by a red haze that engulfed everything around her. 'Where am I?' Rei said in some confusion.

'You are here.' Rei looked around to find the source of this voice that intruded in this place. To her left, she could only make out a bare female form shadowed by the haze.

'Who are you?'

'I am you'... if Rei knew anything, she knew that this being was not herself.

'What do you mean?'

'You are so lonely aren't you?' The being said instead of answering as it slowly walked towards Rei.

'Lonely? I am not lonely.'

'Oh, but you are. You have existed in this world alone from the time of your _birth_. Deluding yourself with the same memories. Using them over and over, desperately trying to hold onto them, as if they were a life preserver instead of the lead weight they truly are.'

'Who are you?' Rei asked slightly startled by this line of reasoning.

'I am the one that shall give you peace. The one that will never leave you as so many have done before.' With this, the figure resolved itself from the mist showing an exact duplicate of herself.

'You are me?'

'Yes, we shall become one and forever leave this world of pain.' The other Rei slowly walked out of the sea moving closer. Soon she stood directly before Rei and encircled Rei within her arms. Rei's world became very light as if she were lazily drifting on a patch of warm fluffy clouds. The other Rei slowly brought her mouth next to Rei's ear. 'Join with me.' She whispered.

For a moment all Rei wanted was to do just that, to leave the pain she felt behind and fall into the awaiting bliss proffered before her. Before she could, a face flashed through her mind. Shinji's smiling face as she took his freely offered sandwich. It was one of the few times she could remember someone smiling... smiling at her.

The strong image was all she needed to push away from the embrace. 'No, there is more than pain here. There is more that I can experience; things you can not give me.'

The other _Rei_ did not seem perturbed by the sudden rejection. 'So you wish to join with him? Do not worry; we shall all be joined soon.' Rei's eyes opened wide in realization. She pushed and shoved her way to consciousness. In a blurry haze, she felt the tendrils that continued to invade her mind and body. All this meant little as her attention locked onto what was happening outside. Shinji's Eva's movements where becoming sluggish as he attempted to dodge the angel's numerous of swipes. She also realized someone was speaking.

"Shinji! Get out of there now. You can't help like this. You have to retreat."

"I will not. If I do, it...it will take her. I can not lose...lose her now." Shinji cried out exhaustedly.

A single tear escaped Rei's right eye. Meanwhile, the opposing side of the angel seemed to have decided to end things as it whipped back for one final thrust. It zoomed forward at supersonic speed going straight for Unit 01's midriff. There was no way Shinji could avoid the blow. Against all apparent odds it stopped short by a mere meter.

"Ma'am! Unit 00's AT field is reversing!"

"What?! Rei, what are you doing?"

"The only thing... I can to... save..." Rei's last comment was broken through the intense tides of pain that multiplied as the angel merged with her Eva at an accelerated rate.

"Rei, get out of there now" Shinji cried out desperately

"Go...Shinji" Rei managed to say while barely remaining conscious as she engaged her self-destruct mechanism.

"Her self-destruct has been activated!"

"Rei! No!!!" Shinji shouted in desperation.

"Ma'am, we've lost all feed from Unit 01's plug."

"Give me a visual." The display panned left and centered on Unit 01. Its hunched form sat motionlessly.

"Self-destruct in t-minus 5"

"Get her out of there now."

"The signal isn't being accepted."

"4"

"Try the direct line!"

"3"

"It's not being accepted either. Aiihhhh" Maya and the rest of the bridge crew screamed as all the instruments in the room began to spark and let off a loud hiss.

"Large energy detected!"

"2"

"Where?!"

"All sensors are off line."

"1"

"Damn"

"0" everything seemed to freeze for one second until a deafening roar shook the entire complex, forcing most to their knees.

Seconds crawled by as people coughed and wheezed through the abrupt clouds of dust and smoke that had risen from the blast. Those who didn't, remained stunned. The thing they always knew could happen had happened. One of the pilots was dead. The silence stretched out until Misato snapped to. "Get an emergency team out there now. We have to retrieve Unit 01 and Unit 02's pilot. Maya, I need a live feed up and running immediately."

"Yes, ma'am." Maya answered as she pulled herself back into her chair and began to franticly switched through cameras trying to find one that was still active. Quickly, the static that had been displayed shifted into rolling brown clouds obscuring everything.

Dread filled the room at what they might see yet everyone's eyes seemed forced to watch what would appear behind that wall of dust.

Misato spotted it first. "There I see Unit 01 and Unit 02!" Indeed, the purple mecha was on its side like a doll thrown haphazardly about and Unit 02 lay in a similar manner.

Tears reappeared in the captain's eyes

"Give those crews 01 and 02's current position."

With everyone in relief that both Asuka and Shinji had probably survived they didn't at first notice something else to the side of the screen. Maya's exclamation rectified this.

"Oh my God! B…but how?"

Quickly looking where Maya's trembling finger pointed, everyone stood in utter disbelief at a still very intact Unit 00. What was more, just behind it, where the angel once was, the mountains that had exist for as far as the eye could see, now had a large apparent ravine that cut straight through them. It was almost as if someone had taken a shovel and dug out a straight line in a mud field.

Again, Misato was the first to come back to her senses.

"Get another crew out there and retrieve Unit 00's pilot." She managed to say in only a somewhat disbelieving tone.

"Yee...yes, ma'am"

Misato turned to face her blond friend.

"Ritsuko, I want some kind of explanation of just what the hell happened out there."

For one of the few times in her life, Dr. Akagi looked totally clueless her mouth hanging open as she blankly stared at the screen before her.

After Misato snapped her fingers a few times in front of Dr. Akagi's face, she jerked into awareness blinking a few times before saying "Uh…Ok I'm on it."

After several long minutes heavily laden with strained nerves, Misato spoke. "Status on the pilots?"

"It looks like Rei is nearly unharmed, except for some mental trauma and confusion"

"Aren't we all." Misato grumbled under her breath

"Shinji seems to be barely alive. They are rushing him to emergency room 310 now."

"Take over for me. I'm going to check on him."

(Emergency room 310)

Shinji lay on the bed seemingly lifeless. The heart monitor hardly registering any vital signs. Misato stood above him, a mixture of shock and worry etched on her face. Noticing no apparent physical wounds, Misato turned her head to the doctor who was treating him. "What is wrong with him?"

Blinking furiously, the middle aged doctor stood as if just realizing someone else was in the room.

"I'm not exactly sure. I've never seen anything quite like this before. It's as if…his body has been drained of life. That is about as close as I can come to describing it. There are no evident injures, his brain signal indicates some trauma, but no more then what we have seen in the past, yet his heart is barely beating"

"Is…is he stable?"

"Yes, despite all our uncertainties, his readings are steady, if low. We are currently observing him to monitor for improvement"

"Thank you, doctor. Let me know if there are any further developments."

"Certainly," the doctor replied absently, having already returned to hovering over the still frame of Shinji.

Misato stood there for several minutes longer, watching intently, as if her stare alone could revive him.

"Major Katsuragi, please report to meeting room three." A bland voice came over the intercom

Sighing, Misato took one last long look before turning to the exit.

(Meeting room three)

In the meeting room, which was just a little larger then the average classroom, Dr. Akagi stood near the opposite wall from the entrance with what appeared to be some hastily drawn diagrams.

Soon after Misato appeared, Rei entered, her legs seemed like they would give out at any moment, yet there was a determined look on her face. Several rather disgruntled doctors followed close behind her.

"You shouldn't be up. We need to observe you for at least twenty-four hours to treat any trauma." Seeing Misato watching their exchange, they turned their pleas towards her. "Major, Ms. Ayanami should be in examination. She can barely remain standing much less attend a briefing. She may even compound any problems that we haven't discovered yet."

"It's all right. Rei has more reason to be here then anyone." Seeing that their last plea to sanity had failed, they turned with frustrated frowns.

Before leaving one doctor turned quickly "Make sure that she returns for a proper examination immediately afterwards."

"We'll make sure of that, thank you," Misato said as the last doctor left.

Rei gave an almost unperceivable nod that could have easily been mistaken for the continuous shakiness that seemed to rake her body. Misato helped her down the rest of the way, seating her onto one of the hastily erected chairs in the front row.

Dr. Akagi waited semi-patiently for everyone to sit down. When everyone quieted, she began

"As you all well know, at 14:00 the angle launched its attack against the Evas. The battle, however, ended unusually. When Pilot Ayanami triggered her self-destruction mechanism, she managed to completely destroy the target yet miraculously both her and the majority of her Eva sustained minimal damage. This meeting has been called to try and explain as best we can as to exactly what potentially happened out there. 

We've inserted all available data into the MAGI. The only possible scenario it provides is highly improbable, but it is the only thing that makes any sense whatsoever. This scenario was characterized by the manipulation of space/time to warp the energy expelled by the self destruct sequence.

AT fields, by their nature, distort space/time but the shear magnitude of energy necessary to warp so much power and in such a channeled manner is mind boggling. Current estimates exceed known power generation limits per space/time. The recordings we managed to salvage from Unit 00 show that it had nothing to do with this energy generation. The best way to explain in this situation is simply to take questions from the audience. Information is limited, but I will attempt to answer your questions."

Misato's hand was the first risen.

"Where did the energy originate?"

Dr. Akagi turned to a hastily constructed picture detailing Unit 01 in its crouched position. "Just before our instruments completely fried, we received a strong energy reading emanating from Unit 01." She clicked on a slide projector. "We see here a picture of the unit moments before the failure. At this time, we picked up an energy signature that was apparently rising at an expediential rate. You'll notice the odd red coloration of the eyes. These are our only indication of the power source. We could neither confirm nor deny the powers strength. Given the Units behavior in earlier incidents this seems the most likely source."

Rei raised her hand next

"Exactly how could this occurrence affect Shinji in the way that it did?"

"I was only made aware of Shinji's condition before the presentation. The only explanation I can think of is that some of his energy may have inadvertently been tapped during the power generation."

Without raising her hand Rei proceeded to her next question

"Will Shinji recover?"

The blond scientist blinked in surprise. Rei had not only spoken without being asked, but the very nature of the question itself surprised her. She could almost be described as seeming... anxious about his welfare. A few others noticed this as well, but these were very few consisting of Misato and the bridge crew who happen to be seated close by. After several moments, Dr. Akagi visibly shook herself before replying.

"Yes, I do believe he will recover, but it may take some time. We are uncertain of the length of time necessary, as his condition does not match any known to date.

"So it is only a matter of time?"

"Yes" Dr. Akagi then saw something else she hadn't expected; Rei's eyes seemed to relax just slightly as if a great worry had been lifted. It was hard to tell with Rei as her stoic face could change very little while expressing emotion.

(elsewhere)

Shinji's existence was a swirl of colorful dancing lights and a melodious sound that flowed in conjunction with each other. He wasn't able to appreciate this because he was so tired. He could only float in this odd mixture of senses with his eyes drooping. He felt utterly weary, barely managing to think. Whispers of eternal rest coursed through his mind accompanied by a gentle yet insistent tug. It would be so easy to simply let go, to merge with the bright flowing colors and finally be relieved of all the misery that seemed to saturate his very being. Countless times this thought came and left yet something resisted. Some reason was just out of sight, but he knew it was infinitely precious, far too precious to let go of now.

The constant tug of war lasted for an eternity, his will slowly eroding along with the ebbs and flows that continued to taunt him. When he had almost given up, the colors began to fade. Slowly turning to shades of gray and eventually into a dull lumpy white. It took several minutes for Shinji to realize that what he saw was actually a ceiling. Slowly he blinked coming back to a reality that felt familiar.

Turning his head to the right, he saw several machines beeping rhythmically. Mechanically he turned to the left. He saw a plan chair with an attractive, young girl asleep. Her chin hung down with some forgotten book that lay on her lap. Her blue hair was in a familiar disarray... Blue hair? Brain functions ceased as Shinji half leapt, half fell towards her, arms spread wide.

"Rei, Your alive!"

The girl in question managed to barely open her eyes before Shinji collided with her, knocking both straight off the chair and onto the ground.

"You're alive, you're alive." Shinji feebly held onto her, his repeated phrase the only thing that seemed to keep his exhausted mind awake.

Rei, still completely stunned by these unexpected events, lay motionless as she tried to come to terms with the sudden situation she now found herself in. Someone was weakly clinging onto her as if life itself. Hesitantly, her hand rose, seemingly by its own violation, to gently run her fingers through his hair. This constant motion seemed to calm Shinji, reminding his body of his brief, overt taxation pushing him into a deep sleep still clinging to Rei all the while.

Post-authors note:

Done at last! Well, not really. There are two more chapters I have planned and an epilogue if I receive enough comments that desire it. Anyway, the next chapter I already have planned out and only have to type it really. Hopefully that means the next chapter won't take anything near as long as this one did to come out. As always, I am a novice so any constructive criticism and/or encouragement would help me in improving my writing.

Thanks,

brindani


	7. ch 7

Authors note: A new chapter, what a novel concept. Ok I'd like to give a big thanks to my pre-readers who I couldn't have done this without. RedMage2k, rgreat, D Flowers and Sessha.

Disclaimer: Don't own Eva; never did, never will.

"Speaking out loud"

'Thinking internally'

_'memories'_

**Through the Mind of One**

by: brindani

Chapter 7

(deep within the bowels of NERV)

Kouzou stood, his head slightly bowed, as he skimmed through some of the most recent reports concerning the Evangelions and their pilots. Next to him stood a large imposing desk where Gendou Ikari solemnly stared off into the distance.

"So, the fifth is to arrive soon. What will you have him do? We have no spare Evas for him to pilot."

"You might call him a spare in case one of the pilots becomes... incapacitated." Gendou answered coldly.

"Do you think it will become necessary to have one of them become _incapacitated_." Kouzou replied with a small frown hidden behind the reports he held.

"The second's performance as of late has been very unsatisfactory."

"So you will...?"

"No, not yet, it seems she may have a part to play outside of Eva; dealing with a situation that has become problematic."

"Rei?" Kouzou replied knowingly. Gendou's lack of response was answer enough.

Kouzou suddenly stopped his review when he flipped to the next page.

"Is this correct? You will be using _that_ core?"

"Indeed, it is the only alternative that we currently have for the moment."

"...But"

"It is inactive. It will pose no threat for the moment and represents the only compatible core we posses."

"Still, this is very risky. If it ever should become active..."

"It is a risk that must be taken. Risk naturally follows when such high stakes are involved." Gendou silently returned to his sightless staring into the distance.

'I just hope that all of those risks don't catch up to you, my friend.' Kouzou thought to himself.

(Misato's apartment)

Rei stood in the middle of the hallway, fist raised before her roommate's door. Ever since that day a week ago, in the hospital, when her fellow pilot had literally used all his strength to affirm her survival, something had changed. She was uncertain as to what exactly, but hoped to find enlightenment by discussing the issue with Shinji. Unfortunately, she had little chance to do so due to the lockdown administered immediately following his awakening. It was only logical then that Shinji's recent recovery and release meant that she would have an opportunity to raise her inquiry.

These were the ideas that traveled through her mind, as her fist remained raised to knock. Still, something seemed to keep her from doing so, a hesitance had never been present before. Yet another factor that had begun to disturbed her, one of far too many. Tightening her fist, she prepared to knock.

DING DONG.

Rei paused at the unexpected sound. 'Who?' She thought as she let her hand drop to her side before moving towards the front door.

Taking a little time, Rei composed her face to its usual coolness before opening the door. On multiple occasions, the doorbell would ring due to either one or both of Shinji's two friends, Touji and Kensuke, who typically desired to converse or interact with Shinji in some way. As Shinji had recently been released from the hospital, it would be pertinent to assume that they would visit.

The person Rei found standing before her was definitely not one of these two. The young boy, roughly her age, had a small build with an uncommon carefree smile, his hands stuffed into his pockets. He wore the typical school uniform of a white shirt with black pants. None of this, however, was what struck her as much as his pail skin and red eyes.

"Hello there. You must be Ms. Ayanami. It's a pleasure to meet you at last." He said taking his right hand out of his pocket to offer in a hand shake.

When Rei did not immediately take it, he simply let it swing away without any indication of taking offense.

"Who are you?" Rei asked bluntly.

"Kaworu Nagisa, the 5th child. The commander told me you might be able to show me around."

'The commander?' "..." Rei thought, not bothering to reply.

"Shall we be going then?" He asked as he took ahold of her hand and quickly led her away before she could protest.

(Thirty minutes later)

Shinji lay on his bed looking up into the white ceiling; his gaze, however, lay far beyond. He had recuperated nicely ever since the incident, with little help from NERV. The care was second to none, but Shinji had lost count of how many times he had to suffer the same faceless doctors repeatedly asking him the same questions.

Now that they finally allowed him to leave the hospital, he would be able to return to school. He was actually excited by the prospect. True, school would likely be the same boring place, but Shinji considered it an infinitely better prospect then remaining in the hospital. At least he would be able to see his friends at school.

It actually was still puzzling to him as to why he had been quarantined. He vaguely remembered seeing Rei when he had first awaken so if she were initially allowed then why would she and everyone else be stopped after that?

His thoughts soon became disarrayed when some very demanding growls began to rise from his stomach. These forced his first destination of the day: the kitchen. When he walked out of his room, the hint of burnt food was the first thing that greeted him. To his dismay, he found Misato standing in front of the stove desperately trying to keep some boiling water from spilling over the pot, which apparently held noodles.

"Misato?"

"Oh, Shinji, you're awake. I'm almost finished making some noodles for breakfast; have a seat." The wannabe cook said without turning around

'Misato made breakfast? What, is she trying to do, kill me for real here?' Shinji thought in despair. "Hey Misato, I think I remember having to go to school early to ah… pick up my missing homework, yes. Bye!" Shinji finished by moving out the front door as fast as his still sluggish body would take him.

Turning from her preparation, Misato watched him slide from view with a raised eye. She then turned her attention to the rather large stack of homework notices plainly displayed on the kitchen table. She pouted for a little while. 'My cooking is not that ba...' She couldn't finish that thought as she suddenly found that half the pot of water had decided to make a break for it taking the noodles with it, leaving burnt pieces all over. Any thoughts concerning Shinji abruptly vanished.

(school)

Shinji left far too early so he had little difficulty making it to school on time slow pace or not. As he entered the classroom, several people stopped talking to welcome him back. Two of these were distinctly brought to his attention as they magically appeared before him.

"Shinji!! Were have you been, man. You had us worried." Touji exclaimed as he launched a hefty slap on the back that sent Shinji flailing to the floor. It was a good thing that Touji was fast or his other arm might not have been able to catch him in time. "Sorry about that."

"It's all right." Shinji said wheezing from the blow. "Sorry about worrying you guys. I wasn't allowed to make any telephone calls from the NERV hospital."

"Don't worry about it. That's what we kind of figured. So where is your other half?" Touji asked looking around.

"Other half?"

"You know, you and Ayanami have been really close lately." Touji said with a suggestive wink.

At that, the sliding door opened to reveal said girl. Rei stood in the doorway for several seconds looking first one way then the other, scanning the room for something. Apparently not finding what she sought, she swiftly walked forward.

"Hey, Rei how..." Shinji didn't get much further before Rei walked right past him to sit next to a pale student that Shinji didn't recognize. "Did I miss something?" Shinji asked mystified.

Another person sitting near the back noticed the odd behavior as well. Asuka wore a contemplative expression as she flicked her bright blue eyes between both Shinji and Rei. 'A new factor has come into play.' Asuka thought as she took an especially long glance at the new kid that held Rei's attention. For a split-second, the kid glanced back at her. At the same time, a notion crossed Asuka's mind, which raised a devilish smile. Getting up from her desk, she walked over to Shinji who still wore a confused expression.

"Come on Shinji, the teacher is going to come soon." She said while taking a hold of his hand and swiftly leading him to one of the front seats where, after she deposited him, she sat adjacent from him.

'Asuka really has changed recently. She's even acting... nice to me.'

Shinji thought as Asuka filled him in on the previous night's homework.

Everyone around was rather stunned, especially his fellow Stooges who promptly sat directly behind the two to make certain nothing happened. So great was the spectacle that no one really noticed a set of intense red eyes watching the conversation, eyes strictly held behind a mask of emotionlessness.

Lunch took longer then usual to arrive for Shinji, that day. His mind lay in turmoil as to why Rei would ignore him. 'Was she angry that I fell on her when I first woke up? That may be it. I shouldn't have done that, but I was so happy to see her alive. I was sure she had died when she self-destructed. I wish I could have made lunch for both of us. I could apologize or something. Maybe the cafeteria? Ack...' Not a prospect that he looked forward to, but he really wanted to get this settled. Strengthening his resolve, he stood up with the lunch bell. He walked quickly over to the desk Rei had chosen for the day. He almost reached it too.

"Hey Shinji, I made more then enough for my lunch. Do you want to eat with me?" Asuka didn't give him a chance to answer as she once again took hold of his hand and dragged him off.

'Damn, that was close. I've just got to keep him away from Wondergirl for now. With her distracted by that new kid I'll be able to keep Shinji all to myself.' Asuka thought with glee. 'I _will_ beat her.'

Back in the classroom, Rei had shifted her attention minutely to both of their retreating backs. Still sitting in his seat near the front, Touji watched with some confusion. He looked to the exit that Shinji had just taken and back to Rei whose eyes seemed locked on the same sliding door

With a frown, Touji stood to walk over to Rei. "Hey Rei, could I talk to you for a second?"

"I am currently indisposed..." She said not even turning to directly talk to him.

"I don't mind. Why don't you go talk with him?" Kaworu interrupted her rejection.

"..." Rei slowly stood to leave.

Touji remained quite as he contemplated the current situation and tried to come up with a good place to talk with Ayanami. Rei, for her part, walked next to him starring straight ahead. Eventually, they found their way to the school roof where Touji rested his arms along the railing.

"So what's up?" Touji asked.

"What do you mean?" Rei asked coolly.

"You have been very distant with him today."

"With whom?"

"Shinji."

"There has been no deviation from my usual interaction with pilot Ikari."

"Are you all right?"

"Rei, just remember that you can always depend on Shinji. He... likes you a lot." When Touji looked back to gauge Rei's reaction he found that she had disappeared. "I hope this works out." Touji said to himself.

(NERV central dogma)

'What's going on? Does Rei not like me anymore? I thought we were at least becoming friends. Now she doesn't even seem to care that I exist.' Shinji thought while he walked along the catwalk to his Evangelion. He was concentrating so intently on his course that he almost walked by the new kid before realizing it. Blinking once, Shinji turned to look at the other, who continued to stare intently at Unit 01.

"Hello" Shinji said tentatively.

Slowly, as if forcibly pulled away, the other broke his gaze with Unit 01 to look back at Shinji. As soon as he locked eyes, he smiled. "Hello there, Shinji."

"How do you know who I am?"

"Let's just say that some of my cousins have mentioned you."

"Really? Who are they?"

"Unfortunately, they were all killed in the various angel attacks."

"I'm sorry to hear that." For a brief second Kaworu looked far away.

"...You weald much power."

"What...What do you mean?"

Instead of answering Kaworu turned to continue his gazing of Unit 01.

"Oh, you mean Unit 01. That last angel was really only a fluke." Shinji said nervously as he traced where the other was looking.

"Well… we have an activation tests to perform. Shall we?" Kaworu turned and gestured behind Shinji. When Shinji looked back, he took several involuntary steps away when he found Rei, dressed in her plug suit, standing a scant few feet behind him.

"Yes." With only an empty gaze directed towards Shinji, Rei turned to the adjacent cage where a newly restored Unit 00 motionlessly stood.

(In Unit 00's entry plug)

Rei sat still in her cockpit, awaiting the activation of her Unit, a troubled expression periodically crossing her face.

"Begin activation." A voice, that Rei didn't bother to identify, said.

"Establish nerve connections"

This last statement drew Rei's attention as another presence began to form in the back of her mind. It was subtle yet different from her previous experience with Eva. It felt jaded, bitter and distrustful. This sensation of distrust only grew as the nerve connections began to initiate.

"We've past the third connection. ...Rei, is there a problem in there? Your sink ratio is holding at barely 5%." Dr. Akagi's reprimanding voice came through the comm.

"Something is... different."

"Can you compensate?"

"I will attempt to."

"Good, we'll prolong the test to allow you to adapt."

Rei didn't answer; instead, she began to delve into this strange consciousness. Almost immediately, she reached a barrier. It seemed made of those residual emotions that Rei had originally felt. Her light probes revealed that this barrier would not be easily breeched. As no mental pressure would allow her access, Rei took the next most logical course of action; she metaphorically sat directly in front of the barrier and waited.

If Rei had anything in abundance in was patience. She could wait for days without moving from a given spot.

(Two hours later)

Rei remained with her eyes closed, head tilted to the side when she felt a faint stirring deep within the Eva. Slowly the other presence began a tentative probe of its own. Rei took no movement to resist. She knew it was imperative to gain the cooperation of the Eva's essence. At first, it was light and filled with sorrow and mistrust. Rei became concerned when the probe abruptly stopped. Some unknown emotion abruptly overwhelmed her. Instead of sitting outside of a barrier, Rei suddenly found herself being sucked into the essence like a vortex.

(Outside)

Shinji stifled a yawn as he sat in his Eva. He had spent the last hour and a half with nothing to do. Occasionally, he cast covert glances towards Rei's motionless form, but besides that did very little.

"How much longer is this going to take Misato?" Shinji asked tiredly.

"Until Rei can properly synch with her Eva, we are just going to sit here." Dr Akagi answered with annoyance clear in her voice.

It was about then that hell began to break loose.

"What? Rei's sink ratio just jumped to 32 no 41, it's increase exponentially!" Maya called out.

"Cut all nerve connections and break off the power supply." Gendou's voice spoke calmly. Only Fuyutsuki, who stood directly beside him, was able to hear the subtle hint of apprehension.

"Yes, sir"

Moments later, the power cord from Unit 00's back exploded out briefly firing its rockets before clanging to the ground below. In a scene very reminiscent of past activations, the Unit began to stager around clutching its head. Moments later, another figure stood next to the Evangelion, restraining its arms tightly to make sure that no harm came to the pilot. Unit 00 continued to thrash wildly around without success in its bid to free itself from the arms that retrained it. With Shinji's deep concentration, he was able to hold on as five minutes slowly crawled by. Finally, the blue giant mecha fell silent.

Shinji instantly turned on a screen to show the inside of Unit 00. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found her body floating unconscious with an almost peaceful expression.

"Rei?" He asked hopefully.

"Dr. Akagi, meet me in my office in fifteen minutes." Gendou stated before standing up to leave, totally dismissing the scene before him.

"But sir th…" She was cut off by one piercing glare that spoke of sever punishment at any insubordination "I'll be there momentarily." She finally said with resignation

"I expect no less." Finished, he moved out of view.

(Hospital)

Rei lay motionless while Shinji, once again, maintained his vigil. His thoughts once again strayed to the enigmatic girl in the bed before him. 'I thought I was finally beginning to understand.' Shinji closed his eyes taking in a few deep breaths to calm himself. A soft stirring soon drew his attention. When he looked across to her bed, he saw Rei beginning to move. She hadn't quite opened her eyes yet, but it was apparent she would soon be conscious. Nearly simultaneously, the door to the room opened revealing Kaworu, still wearing his school clothes, directly behind him stood Asuka with a casual white shirt with jeans. Her eyes immediately locked onto Shinji the moment the door opened.

Shinji didn't know who had entered, his concentration focused solely on the slowly awakening figure before him. Because of this, he never saw the hand that abruptly flipping him around. He quickly found himself in an unanticipated close hug, two very prominent pressures turning his cheeks crimson.

"Shinji, we need to talk right now." Asuka said as she quickly withdrew herself from the embrace.

"Ah... ok, but I wanted to talk…"

"I need to talk to you right now…Please." Asuka whispered with large pleading eyes that no human male should have been able to refuse. Seeing that Shinji still managed to hesitate, Asuka took the initiative to pull him along to the door. Against his better judgment, Shinji allowed himself to be pulled away. He did catch one last look behind him where Kaworu had already sat down and was quietly talking to Rei.

(That night)

"Rei! Rei!" Rei shook her consciousness back to the present as someone called her name. When she reopened her eyes, she found Misato standing a short distance away snapping her fingers to gain Rei's attention.

"Don't start spacing out on us. As I was saying, Kaworu is actually the seventeenth angel. He is currently descending toward Terminal Dogma. We have no idea where either Shinji or Asuka are. Until we can find them, it is up to you to stop him. Do you understand Rei?"

'Kaworu an angel?' "Yes, major."

"Hurry, we don't have too long before he initiates third impact."

Misato's words never reached Rei as she was already sprinting through corridors, attempting to reach her Eva as quickly as possible. Moments later, she reached her unit's cage. There stood the enormous Unit 00 whose one eye eerily stared at her. She took no note as she rushed up to her entry plug.

Once in the Eva, a screen came to life showing Misato's worried expression. "Ritsuko thinks that they have fixed whatever went wrong with the last activation. If there are any difficulties, you'll need to adapt manually. I'm now relaying the fastest route to intercept the seventeenth before he reaches ground zero."

"Understood," Indeed Rei could feel the Eva acting much more subdued, none of the previously hidden elements apparent. As soon as she gained control, she pulled the Eva out, racing against time.

"Rei, we have jus…got…ang….." Misato's picture abruptly disappeared as Rei jumped down the final shaft indicated on her visual map. Though the drop was hundreds of meters deep, she didn't seem to accelerate. Another thing she took little note of.

(Terminal Dogma)

Hovering above a lake of LCL, Kaworu looked intently at a white humanoid figure crucified upon a large cross. This is what Rei first saw as she charged into the cavern.

"Kaworu." Rei spoke softly stopping just before the figure.

Almost as if Kaworu had heard his name called, he turned mid-air to face Rei in Unit 00. "Good evening, Rei. I have been waiting for you."

"Why are you doing this?" Rei asked standing still.

Kaworu showed his usual large happy go lucky grin. "I am an angel so I must therefore join with Adam. I am not, however, just any angel; I am the angel of choice. That is what life is truly all about, really, choice. Of course, no choice exists in simply joining with Adam so I took measures to determine my next action. In fact, you shall make the choice."

"Me?"

"Yes." At this, two forms rose from far below to hover several meters to either side of Kaworu. On the left was Shinji, obviously unconscious, his head hanging off to one side. On the other was Asuka, in a similar state, both apparently taken from bed as they still wore their night clothes. "You now have a choice, a choice to crush one of us. You could destroy me now and end all of this or... you could destroy the one who betrayed you." Kaworu stopped speaking as Shinji's body slowly flew to the fore.

'betray?' Memories assaulted her mind.

_'Rei sat at her desk as the lunch bell rang. She had wanted to speak with Shinji in the morning, but never had the chance, as Shinji hadn't shown up until later. She now wanted to take the opportunity to try and talk with him during lunch. When she looked up she found Shinji smirking at her while taking Asuka into his arms for a long drawn out kiss before walking out the door with her.'_

'What?' She found herself back within the cockpit, her Eva's hand reaching towards Shinji's body.

_'Rei was walking across the catwalk for her activation test. Before her, she saw both Shinji and Kaworu talking.'_

_"Do you not feel bad treating Rei so poorly?" Kaworu asked._

_"I'll do as I please. She is just one step amongst many."_

_"You have no shame."_

_"Shut up." _

_Kaworu__ looked behind Shinji to see Rei approach them._

_"Rei!__ We should get you to your test." Kaworu said as he quickly left Shinji who wore a sneer of contempt to hurry Rei away from the hurtful conversation.'_

When Rei could reorient herself she found her Eva's hand firmly griped around Shinji's prone body. Just a little more and…

"Or perhaps you wish to destroy the one that made him betray you." Kaworu said gesturing to Asuka's equally vulnerable form as it flew forward.

Rei shifted her gaze towards Asuka.

'_Once Rei made it to school she sat down next to Kaworu who had dramatically swept his hands back and forth to make sure she did. As hard as she had looked, she could not find Shinji anywhere. After talking with Kaworu for a short while, Shinji came in with a happy smile, waving to her. Before she could bring herself to wave back, however, a red blur attached itself to him. Shinji was obviously surprised by this unusual attention, but soon succumbed to the red heads full body glomp. Asuka then took Shinji away for most of that period. When he returned he look a little too happy while she looked smug with success.'_

Unit 00's left hand now rested around Asuka, ready to squeeze. Rei's eyes filled with passion as a flood of emotion streamed through her. Amidst the turbulence, another presence quietly arose in the back of her mind. It slowly took the form of the back of Touji Suzuhara speaking to her.

_'"Rei, just remember that you can always depend on Shinji. He... likes you alot"' _

'What?'

_Rei sat at her desk as the lunch bell rang. She had wanted to speak with Shinji in the morning, but never had the chance, as Shinji hadn't shown up until later. She now wanted to take the opportunity to try and talk with him during lunch. When she looked up she found Shinji smirking'_

The strange presence once again awoke freezing the image in her mind. Slowly, it began to distort and warp before shattering into thousands of shards, in its place stood a new image.

_Shinji looked hesitantly in her direction from his desk. His eyes looked concerned and worried. When the bell rang, he stood to make his way over to her. He had almost reached her desk when Asuka came and took his arm to drag him bodily away._

'Is this what happened?' "Ahh" Rei grunted as her memories started to change before her eyes.

_Rei was walking across the catwalk for her activation test. Before her she saw both Shinji and Kaworu talking._

_"Do you not feel bad treating Rei so…" _

The image lasted only seconds before breaking apart.

_"Hello there, Shinji."_

_"How do you know who I am?"_

_"Let's just say that some of my cousins had mentioned you."_

_"Really?__ Who are they?"_

…

'Its not the same.'

Flash.

_Once Rei had made it to school she couldn't find Shinji…_

Crack

_Shinji stood directly before her with a greeting half formed on his lips before she passed him without taking any heed._

Roughly, Rei opened her eyes from the numerous scenarios revealed before her. 'They are not the same. But how?' Focusing her attention on Kaworu, she noticed something different, something shiny. Sparkling little threads were issuing from him. The tiny almost unperceivable threads weaved together as they came towards her mind trying to reach into her being. Except now, something was stopping them. Something prevented their entry. 'Kaworu did this? He made me believe these things?'

Unit 00's hand, which was almost squeezing Asuka to death, suddenly released and grabbed Kaworu instead.

"You did this?"

"...Yes, life is _all_ about choices, what I failed to mention is that all choices have influences. It seems that for the first time someone has chosen differently from what I have dictated. Interes…"

Kaworu never managed to finish his statement as Unit 00 closed its fist.

End Chapter 7

Post-authors note:

So many things so little time. Yes, Asuka can now cook. It would have been one of my top priorities given the circumstances she was in. I'll be honest; I never liked Kaworu very much. He was a character introduced very late in the game that had far to much sway in how the pilots personal lives played out. More specifically, he detracted from a relationship developing between Rei and Shinji. Don't get me wrong, I would have preferred a relationship with Asuka and Shinji over Kaworu too. They at least had the foundation set for one, but I still would have preferred Rei and Shinji. Like no one could guess that by now.

Anyway, there is only one final chapter to go. I have been thinking of a potential epilogue, but I haven't decided to do it or not. Any constructive criticism or comments will really help as I'm still just a beginner.

Thanks,

brindani


	8. ch 8

Authors note: I'd like to give a hefty thanks to my pre-readers who have really been helpful in catching some of my mistakes throughout this story: Rvy, rgreat, D Flowers bTan,, and Sessha. Special thanks to: RedMage2k, and Srose for checking through this chapter in particular for mistakes.

Disclaimer: After eight chapters I'm sure everyone knows I don't own squanto concerning Evangelion or its characters.

"Speaking out loud"

'Thinking internally'

'_memories'_

**Through the Mind of One**

by: brindani

Chapter 8

(SEELE counsel meeting)

Within a room, into which few had ever dared step foot, twelve large screens alighted. There was nothing special about these screens; each held only a text message saying "voice only" with a large number ranging from 01 to 12. These monolith's appearance may have seemed insignificant, but what they spoke of would change the future for all time.

"So the pawn failed in its mission?" A voice came from the screen near the head of the table, marked only as 01.

"Yes, the Evangelions prevented the completion." Spoke a voice just to the side of the other.

"And Ikari's actions?"

"They have grown more abrasive and out of line with the scenario in the past thirty-two hours. Our last communications with our agents pointed to the conclusion that he may well start third impact himself."

"I see, now that all the angels have been destroyed, he is no longer a necessity. It seems that we must once again take matters into our own hands."

"The series is on stand-by and can be launched in twenty-three minutes. All adjustments have been made to the dummy plug system for optimal performance, including the new experimental variation"

"The JSSDF special forces are ready to deploy at any time as well."

"Good. Send in the initial wave to lure out their Evangelions."

"It is done." came a voice from the back a moment later.

(Misato residence)

Shinji was depressed, one of few things that he knew as truth in these confusing times. It was the last angel encounter that had left him in this confused state.

'_Shinji shook himself awake. He found himself sprawled out on a cool black slab of rock. Looking to the side, he found a lake of LCL with the same crucified angel he had seen during the sixteenth angel's attack. But what was he doing here now? He didn't remember anything past opening the door last night and seeing Kaworu_ _standing before him._

_Sitting himself up, he noticed several others in the cavern as well. Asuka lay several meters away to his right while Rei stood to the left looking high above where her blue Evangelion crouched before her. For a second, he thought he saw something different there, something he had seen only rarely. The small smile was so brief, however, that he couldn't be sure. Especially since when she turned towards him, there existed no trace of any such emotion._

"_Pilot Ikari, the seventeenth angel has been eliminated. You should report to Central Dogma for debriefing."_

"_How did I get here?" He asked bemused by the whole situation._

"_You allowed yourself and pilot Soryu to be captured and were used as leverage against me during the confrontation." Startled by her bluntness, Shinji looked directly into Rei'seyes. In those depths, he found no hint of emotion, none whatsoever over the fact that he had come close to dieing. _

"_Don't you care at all about what happened to us?" Her continued emotionless gaze gave him all the answers he needed. Trying hard to hide several stray tears, he ran straight past Rei to the exit.'_

'Maybe... maybe she doesn't feel anything just like Asuka said.' He thought to himself.

Abruptly, the door slammed open, revealing Rei with a very serious gaze.

"Wha....?"

"They have come, we must report to headquarters immediately." Not waiting for a reply Rei quickly walked over and grabbed his arm, forcing him to stand and follow along as she briskly headed towards a nearby window.

"Rei? What are you...No!" Shinji found himself flung out of the window, falling fast. With a thud, he abruptly came to a halt in the dumpster far below. Soon, Rei fell, far more gracefully, next to him and exited the garbage bin.

"Quickly, this way" Rei said while Shinji still flopped about trying to get himself righted from the very unexpected fall. Once he had done so, they went around the corner into a back alley. "We must remain silent or they will find us."

"Who are they?" He whispered. His statement was abruptly punctuated by an explosion from behind. When he looked back, all he could see were the remains of the apartment they had just left. Only the flutter of small bits of debris and ashes where left to fall around their feet.

"Them." Rei whispered back as she quickly pulled him against the wall and pointed off to the side where someone in a military uniform was looking up at the building.

"Yes sir, we have confirmation. Both the First and Third never made it out before the explosion. We got them alright. We're moving out to join the main infiltration group. Rodger" The man said into the walky talky before moving on.

"The JSSDF?" Shinji read from the patch on the man's side.

"We must hurry or they may find us here." Rei said as she walked in the opposite direction in which the man had left.

"But they must be attacking NERV. All the main entrances will surely be blocked off."

Rei didn't answer as she stood at the back of a nearby dead end street. Positioning her finger against the wall, she began to count both up and down before laying pressure on one of the bricks. The brick itself moved in, and to the side, followed quickly by half the wall noiselessly falling inward, allowing them entry into a dark tunnel that curved downward.

"We must hurry before they return." Rei said as she entered the newly formed path. Stupefied at seeing that such a thing existed, Shinji followed. After crossing the threshold, the wall abruptly flipped back up, engulfing them into blackness. It only lasted for a brief few seconds before bright lights further down the tunnel revealed a metallic corridor that stretched as far as they could see.

They walked down the tunnel in an uncomfortable silence for a long time, until a thought came to Shinji, "What about Auska? Is she going to be alright?"

Shinji nearly ran into Rei's back as she abruptly stopped. She turned around to face him with an unreadable expression on her face. "Several agents where dispatched to bring her in safely."

"Then why didn't they send agents to get me?" He asked quietly, almost hopefully.

Briefly, Rei's eyes softened before she turned around to continue walking. "Because I volunteered."

"Wh-why did you do that?" Shinji asked, struggling with himself.

"Because... I needed to."

"Needed? So someone _ordered_ you to do it?" Shinji asked, his voice hardening.

"...No, I wanted to do it."

"Why?" Shinji asked, uncertainty heavily coating his voice.

"I wanted to make sure that you were safe." She answered barely above a whisper.

BOOM

Both turned around at the unexpected noise. Near the very entrance they had just used, they could see light poring in with several shapes moving about.

"We must hurry." Rei said while pushing Shinji in front of her as they went into a near sprint. "You can loose them in the switchways ahead. Remember, left, right, right, right, left, center, left, right, center. That will lead you to the cages."

"Lead me? Where are you going?"

"I must take care of some business before I enter my unit."

"Like what?" When no reply was forthcoming, he turned around and was startled to find that Rei was no where in sight. "Wha...?" Marching noises from behind starting to draw closer forced him to return to his sprinting. He never noticed the crack in the wall off to the side that closed softly after his departure.

Only seconds afterwards, Shinji came across a three way intersection. He blinked once before trying mentally to remember Rei's instructions. 'Lets see, it was left, right, left no right, then left, left?'

An explosion close behind him forced him to continue on with or without knowing exactly which way was correct.

(Ten minutes later)

Shinji was sure of at least one thing in his current situation: he was lost, really, really, really lost. He had been switching back and forth between intersections for what felt like hours. The only good thing about his situation was that all the sounds of pursuit had completely disappeared.

What came around the next corner knocked all thoughts from his mind. In a large tank floated hundreds of Rei's, with each of their eyes blank with an almost sadistic smile gracing their faces.

"....." Shinji said with his mouth gaping wide open.

"So, you found your way here." Shinji flipped around at the unexpected voice. As very little could startle him after all the events from the past hour, he wasn't very surprised to find Ritsuko Akagi standing behind him.

"What are all these?" Shinji asked tentatively, not really wanting to know the answer.

"These are puppets, _his_ little puppets. Made to do whatever he wanted them to."

"But they look like..." Shinji swallowed nervously while trying very hard to ignore the not so subtle hint of insanity in the other's voice.

"Oh they are clones of Rei, alright."

"Does that mean that Rei... is a clone too?" Shinji cringed as Ritsuko let off a short, half mad, bark of a laugh.

"No, his precious _Rei_ is not a clone. She was an ordinary girl once, until he took her. Ever since that time he always had more use for her then mere clones could provide. More use then he had for me." She finished barely above a whisper.

Giggling to herself, she walked pasted Shinji to the center of the room where a large control panel lay. "So many puppets, right Gendou? The puppeteer simply can not exist without puppets, right? Well, what if we were to cut those strings? You wouldn't like that would you, you bastard?" she said while typing furiously on the control panel. Moments later, a large noise started followed quickly by the LCL the clones floated in turning blood red. A large howl arose from the tank as the Reis began to disintegrate right before Shinji's eyes. Each clone glared at him with a feral grin, scraping and clawing at the side of the tank, trying to free itself, to hurt or maim anything that it could get it hands on.

He couldn't handle it any more. Shinji ran for all he was worth. He didn't care where so long as it was away from that horrid cry of death.

Ritsuko looked with glee at her handy work. "Well, I can't be late for our very important date, now can I, Gendou?" she said, while calmly walking down a side door, and began to whistle a happy little tune, having already forgotten that there was anyone with her.

(Several minutes later)

Rei stepped out onto the platform above the very holding tanks Shinji had just left. Starring dispassionately, she took in the scene before her. Red tanks filled with only bits and pieces of what had once held her _sisters_.

"I knew you would come here." a voice said from a speaker behind her. She turned to the side to see a table with a tablet and a glass of water. "It is almost time to complete your purpose. The first step is to take the pill on the table.

Nodding her understanding, Rei walked to the table taking both the pill and glass of water in hand. She plopped the pill into her mouth and took a small sip of the water before swallowing. In mere seconds, Rei's eyes began to droop as if she had gone into a catatonic state.

A wall to the side of her opened, revealing Gendou with a large smile on his face. "Yes, it is indeed time to begin." Rei only turned and half staggered around to face him. "Come, we have much to do with little time left in which to do it." With that, Gendou turned around, heading back into the secret entrance that he had just come through. Rei followed stiffly after him.

It only took minutes for both of them to reach their destination. The angel on the white cross remained where it had hung for countless millennia, its face mask shifting slightly when they entered, as if it could focus on them through the very eyes painted on it.

"I've been waiting, Gendou." Said a voice just off to the side of their entry. Turning, Gendou saw Ritsuko in her lab coat, holding her gun directly at the both of them. "I can't tell you how long I've waited for this." She said with a small insane smile.

"Rei." Was the only thing Gendou said before the gun discharged twice. Twin bullets raced towards Gendou's heart. Coming within inches of him only to abruptly ricochet off an AT field.

"So, yo...you used the auto-suggestive pill. But the side effects..."

"Matter little. Rei will perform her duty and be of no more use, doctor." He said as he walked up to her drawing his own pistil out and placed it directly onto her forehead. "It's time to say good-bye, doctor."

Ritsuko only glared murderously at him.

BANG

For a moment, the doctor remained standing as if the shot had missed, but soon dropped onto her knees and then to her face with a pool of blood quickly encircling her.

Smiling, Gendou turned around. He found Rei at the very edge of LCL Lake, looking intently at Lilith. "Rei?"

"Yes and no" She replied in a soft almost surreal way.

"Ah, Lilith has finally descended."

Rei turned around. The furious face revealed was the only warning Gendou received before he was slammed against the far wall.

"What? That's impossible, the pill should have..."

Rei slowly walked up to him before spitting the pill she had held in her mouth off to the side.

"No."

"Mother has told me much recently."

"Lilith, why..."

Rei gently shook her head. "Tokara."

The hair on Gendou's neck went straight up.

Lightly, Rei cupped her hand on Gendou's chin forcing his eyes to meet hers.

"I am Rei, but I will not be a _nothing_ for you anymore, for I know who I once was: Sara, Sara Tokara.

Gendou flinched as if struck.

"And now, it is time to feel the suffering that you have been responsible for." Small threads of an AT field began to splice themselves away from Rei, snaking their way to strike at Gendou's mind. Upon impact, Gendou instantly began to relive Rei's life. He felt the pain of loosing her mother, the agony of the genetic splicing, and the despair of loosing all that he once was.

With a small twist of her hand, the threads began to weave together in a stable ongoing structure, replaying the memories again and again within his mind. Rei left Gendou screaming and twitching on the floor.

(Central Dogma)

"They've blocked off nearly all the exits now. Only a few are still open, but who knows how long that will last." Maya said as she read from her display panel.

"These guys are real pros. If we are going to win, we need to get the Evangelions out there. What is the status of the pilots?"

"The team sent out to pick up Asuka hasn't reported back yet. We expect that they got ambushed along the way."

"Close enough." the voice came from behind them. Everyone turned, some with guns drawn, to find a smirking Asuka looking down at them in her school dress.

"Asuka! But how did you..."

"Did you really think a bunch of pansy assed soldiers could keep me down? Honestly, sometimes I think you don't give me enough credit. Anyway, what's happening?"

"The United Nations has just declared that NERV is working to undermine the world's security through the use of its Evas. Those guys outside are the JSSDF, here to make sure we don't get any opportunity to do such abuse."

"Ma'am, I've found Shinji." Both Asuka and Misato looked very intensely at the tech that had called out this piece information.

"Where is he?" Both said nearly simultaneously.

"He's... well you better see for yourself."

Misato and Asuka walked down to stand just behind the tech.

"Oh, no."

"Damn."

They said as they watched Shinji rocking back and forth under a stairwell.

"Where is he?"

"Stairwell B, section 43" Maya replied off to the side.

"I'll go get him." Asuka volunteered.

"No, just before they took out our scanners we detected a large contingent of solders and air support coming in fast. We need you to get out there and hold them off as long as possible. I'll go get Shinji." Misato said while pulling out her gun and slamming in a new clip.

"Oh, alright. Just... hurry." Asuka said quietly before spinning around. "Now it's time to teach these fools a thing or two about fighting!"

"Aoba, could you escort Asuka to the cage?" Misato asked of the technician.

"Yes Ma'am." he said, while taking out a semi-automatic.

"Great, a baby-sitter." Asuka grumbled.

"Remember, Asuka, there are probably thousands of highly trained solders out there and only one of you. Anything to increase the chances of you getting to your Eva is our highest priority."

"Whatever, you do know how to use that thing right?" she asked of Shigeru.

"Yes, Ma'am. Been training with this kind of gun every day after work." he said as he expertly began fine tuning and adjusting the gun's scope. He paused briefly, looking around at all the stunned stares directed his way. "What? It's a great stress reliever." A small relieved expression crossed Asuka's face.

"Good, we might actually make it through this."

"Right, I'll see you later." Misato said as she took off running towards Shinji's location.

(Under Stairwell B, section 43)

Shinji sat with his arms tightly wrapped around his knees and slowly rocking back and forth. 'So many Reis. So, so Rei is... no Dr. Akagi said that Rei wasn't one of them. She was a normal girl. It...it was father that did that to her. I can not forgive him. He took her life away as well. He harmed her, but... I will protect her.

So much blood and all of those hate filled... wait that feeling from the Reis, it was the same as when the dummy system took over during the thirteenth angel's attack. So the dummy system has a _Rei_ inside it?' Shinji thought skeptically.

Shinji was so busy with his inner turmoil that he did not notice the sounds of gunshots progressively getting closer.

These shots originated from an assassination squad that had broken off from the main contingent, their mission to locate the pilots and eliminate them on sight. The three wore light armor for added speed and stealth. The leader, a rough guy with an unshaven face, was the first to spot the boy under the stairwell.

"We've found the third child. Proceeding to eliminate the target." He spoke into his walky talky before giving a short laugh while pulling out his gun. One of the other soldiers was watching the child carefully. What sat before him was no professional killing soldier; he was a mere boy and a boy that was obviously disturbed.

"Hey Sarge, this is only a kid..."

"Shut-up, Lewis. Orders say kill him so we kill him." The sergeant said while undoing the safety on his gun and grabbing the now rather startled third child. "Don't blame me kid, nothing personal."

Thud, thud. Two bullets whizzed past Shinji's ear instantly killing the soldier behind him.

"What the..." The sergeant got no further, for as he turned around he was knocked upside the head and shot a second later.

"No offense taken." Misato said as she turned around to the last startled soldier. "Thanks" She briefly said before hitting him in the head, instantly knocking him unconscious.

"Ok, Shinji, we have to get going." For the first time since arriving Misato noticed that Shinji was a little disoriented. He sat in a heap exactly where he had fallen. 'Poor kid, but we just don't have time for this now.'

"Shinji" She said as she crouched down to gently shake his shoulder.

Looking up, Shinji grabbed a hold of her. "There were Reis... and Ritsuko... then soldiers..." He was stopped as Misato lifted his face up to meet hers.

"We can deal with that later. Ok? Right now, we have a situation. I've gotten word that both Unit 00 and Unit 02 are active, but that they may be sending the mass production models. Asuka and Rei..." Shinji's mind went into overdrive as the first name brought back the memories of such a short time ago in the hospital.

'_Shinji continued to be led along as Asuka looked into any opened door they came across trying to find one that was empty. It was a rather busy time so it took several minutes. Eventually they came across a room that didn't hold a patient, or six; storage closets rarely do. _

_Closing the door sharply, Asuka turned to Shinji. Her face betraying a hint of deep seated emotions_

"_Asuka, what's wrong?"_

"_So, you... like Rei?" She asked hesitantly._

"_What do you mean, Asuka?"_

"_You like her as more then a friend, don't you?"_

_Shinji paused at the odd question, taking a second before replying._

"_I...think maybe I do." He said with a quite, almost reflective tone._

_In a very un-Asuka-ish manner, she let her eyes drop to the ground, unable to hold his gaze any longer._

"_Why do you want to know, Asuka? Is there some problem?"_

_After a second of gathering herself, she looked up with the smirk that he was more familiar with. "Of course not, I just wanted to make sure that's all." With that she flicked him in the head as she had done so many times in the past, and walked out the door. "Catcha later." She said while walking out. For several more seconds, Shinji stood within, contemplating Asuka's words and the meaning of his answer.'_

"Rei is out there?!" His mind locked onto that one phrase. Seconds later, Misato was stunned, as the once reluctant boy suddenly fell away from her embrace and started tugging insistently on her arm. "Come on, we need to get there quickly.

(Several hundred meters above their heads)

Asuka was breathing heavily as she surveyed her handy work. Literally thousands of troops, aircraft, and ships lay in runes around her. Any artillery that they may have launched, simply bounced harmlessly off of her AT field. This, however, was not the real problem. What was becoming problematic lay in two different features. One was the sheer number of troops that continued to come in waves of ten thousand. The annoying little things also seemed to be trying to cut her power cord and had almost succeeded on numerous occasions. The second problem was time. Every second that she wasted with these ground troops brought nine very large aircraft closer. Within them lay the mass production model Evangelions. As confident as she was in herself, she truly did not believe that she would be capable of handling so many at once. Mere dots on the horizon when she had first emerged, the crafts were now small blobs and were rapidly growing.

She hated to admit it, but she really did need back-up on this one, even if that included the likes of 'Wondergirl'. Her slight distraction almost cost her, as choppers came up from behind and began to launch a barrage of missiles straight at her cord. She only barely managed to flip it out of the way and throw several destroyed jeeps on the ground at the choppers, sending them crashing down.

This provided several near by rocket launchers a clear shot. Asuka could see the missiles coming, but she was already overextended from dealing with the choppers. Just as they were about to hit, an AT field sprang into existence causing them to destroy themselves on it instead of the intended cord.

"Wha...?" Looking behind her, she slowly grinned as Unit 00 rose from the ground. "Took you long enough, Wondergirl."

"It's a pleasure to see you as well." Rei replied with no small hint of sarcasm. This took Asuka back a little.

'Did Wondergirl just make a comeback?' Deciding that now was not the time to think about such things, Asuka turned her attention back to the battle field where the final wave was advancing.

Working together, the last bunch was easily defeated with a barrage of swift and precise attacks. They had no chance to celebrate as nine very ominous looking planes were almost upon them. Moments later, each opened their cargo bay doors, releasing a white Evangelion that dropped several hundred meters before wings spread out from their backs. To those below, they appeared as small planes, lazily beginning to circle far above.

"Misato, I believe we will be in need of assistance presently." Rei said into her communications system.

For a moment, the system issued only white static back. Fortunately, that lasted only a moment. "...Yes, Rei, we're almost to Unit 01. We had some minor... delays." Misato said while in the background multiple rounds of ammunition could be heard going off and an especially large sound indicated that Misato had fired her own weapon near the walky talky.

"Understood." Rei returned her gaze above where the Evas remained circling.

"What the hell are they waiting for?" Asuka asked as she wearily followed their flight paths. "Well, at least they don't have any weapons on them." Asuka noted as she began to become seriously annoyed at the delay.

(SEELE counsel)

"Is it in alignment yet?" A display marked only as 04 asked.

"Yes, we should begin the recovery procedure."

"Agreed." Came consensus from around the room.

(Central Dogma)

Without notice, the lazy circling of the mass production evangelions began to accelerate.

"We're reading a massive AT field." Maya said.

"Tell the pilots to prepare for the attack." Fuyutsuki said in a very controlled tone.

"Sir? It isn't aimed towards the ground. It appears to be directed upwards."

"Upwards, but that doesn't make any sense... unless, no." Fuyutsuki said as his eyes widened noticeable.

(Battle ground)

Both of the mammoth Evas stood watching as the mass production models eventually stopped their odd behavior, gliding down some five kilometers away, where they landed in a perfect row directly opposite of them. There, they stood, silent.

"What are they doing now?" asked Asuka

"Waiting." came the obvious answer from Rei

"For what?"

"Hey, did I miss anything?" asked Shinji as his Eva rocketed to a stop a short distance away. The mass production models remained silent upon his entry onto the field; they only looked in Unit 01's direction with what appeared to be more then a little glee.

"What took you so long?"

"I'm glad you are alright, Shinji."

Shinji had expected Asuka's response, but Rei's held a subtle emotion that sent pleasant shivers down his spine. It was about then that Shinji first heard the faint whistling noise.

"What is that?" Looking around they could not find the source of the odd sound that continued to increase in volume until it dominated the field. "Wait..." Finally looking up, Shinji saw a pinprick of twinkling light that expanded rapidly. At near the speed of sound, the Lance of Longinus came thundering down, striking the ground only five meters from the very center of the opposing Eva formation.

With a large wicked grin, the middle Eva took the lance into its hands and pulled it out pointing it straight at Unit 01.

"The Lance of Longinus? It can't be. Shinji sent that thing into orbit. It should have been impossible to retrieve." Asuka said in disbelief.

Falling into a V formation, the mass production models began to walk slowly across the field, with the lance leading the way.

"So, what do we do now?" Shinji asked.

"Attack at close range, and do not depend on your AT field to hinder attacks." Rei's voice replied over the system.

"But first we will need a small distraction." Asuka said looking around. Seeing Shinji's pallet rifle, she got an idea. "Shinji, hand me your gun."

Obviously a little confused at the request, Shinji never the less, handed his large rifle over. Taking it aggressively, she pointed it at the other Eva's.

"That will not work." Rei said just before Asuka opened fire. But instead of shooting at the Evas, she shot directly at the ground in front of them, raising a large bloom of smoke and debris that covered up the units. "I see." Rei finished after observing what the other girl intended.

"Charge!" Asuka yelled at the top of her lungs.

All three Evas began to pick up speed rapidly with their prog knives drawn. Asuka, who was slightly ahead of the other two, was the first to find the little surprise that awaited them. In the middle of the cloud of smoke stood an AT field protecting the opposing side and forcing the heroes to run smack into it as if a brick wall. With a slight alteration the AT field expanded dramatically causing Units 00-02 to fly through the air, landing roughly several kilometers apart. The lead mass production model first pointed right towards Asuka's Eva then left towards Rei's and finally straight ahead where Shinji's Eva lay. Two broke off at either end of the formation while the remaining five continued to head towards Unit 01.

"Well that didn't work." Asuka said stating the obvious.

"That AT field should have given way before the prog knife." Rei said in a small disconcerted voice.

Static started to rise on their coms as Misato suddenly appeared before them. "We just got some major readings down here. It looks like those Evas are resonating their AT fields together, it's increased their field's strength nearly exponentially."

"Why can't we do that?" Asuka asked

"In order to resonate in such a fashion requires perfect coordination between the pilots. The probability of such occurring between the three of us is very small." Rei quietly answered

Asuka looked at the now split formation. "Well, they aren't taking any chances against Shinji. They have five on him."

"His Eva has done some pretty powerful things in the past." Misato replied not liking the odds especially with this new unforeseen factor laid before them.

"Well, they are seriously underestimating my power, only two against one." Asuka said as she began to get up for a renewed attack on her self chosen opponents. 'Here we go.' she thought mentally. Charging, towards the closing in units, she found herself once again flying through the air.

"Not an advisable action." Rei said as she slowly backed away from the ones that were after her.

"Now you tell me." Asuka said with no small amount of frustration.

"How dare you treat Asuka that way." Shinji screamed as he too began his charge.

"Shinji we just..." Rei stopped, as Shinji slammed hard against the mountain side behind her.

"That had to hurt." Asuka said with some sympathy towards what she had just gone through moments ago.

Rei then used a strategy originally developed by Asuka as she kicked a large amount of dirt into the opponent's eyes. They were so close now that they had no time to react as Unit 00 drove her prog knife up dismembering one of them before they could spring her back hard.

"Rei..." Asuka was cut off as the two following her took advantage of her distraction to attack, quickly shoving her down to the ground with their joint AT field and promptly ripping out the core from the unit. "Damn it." Asuka seethed, as she was caste into darkness.

Not bothering to finish her off yet, the two rejoined the main group after Unit 01. With a vicious smile, the ones after Unit 00 began to slam their feet into its side raising an intense cry of pain from Rei.

"Rei!" Shinji yelled, suddenly his unit shot out of the mountain side it had once been embedded in, eyes glowing a demonic yellow. It became a blur as it rocketed towards the group that had begun to surround Rei's Eva.

Immediately the lead Eva gave off a horrendous screech, which drew all the other mass production models to it.

The five's joint field sprang into being, but was almost carelessly broken through by the enraged Unit 01. The others then reached the group allowing them to form a joint field of nine. Inch by inch the Unit 01 continued on, reaching its hand out to destroy those that tormented him and his friends. Mere meters away from grabbing a hold of the leaders smirking face, the field became too much sending his Eva straight back into the mountain side with a deafening crash, its yellow eyes dieing away to a dull black. The leader raised one hand in front of itself, slowly forming a large glob of energy, which was released a moment later, straight into Unit 01. The heat was so intense that some of the purple armor instantaneously stripped away.

The leader took one final step forward when Shinji managed one final word "Rei..." he said almost pleadingly.

The leader smiled viscously as it turned away from Unit 01, with the lance still in hand as it headed towards Unit 00 and its helpless pilot. It took one slow deliberate step after another making sure that it was still within sight of the fallen Eva. It stopped in front of Unit 00 and began to laugh demonically as it raised the lance directly above the pilots entry plug.

(Shinji's mind)

Shinji lay on a small green hill alive with a variety of animals and luscious trees. He moved his hands slowly through the soft grass, savoring the feel of its smooth texture. Not a worry in the world troubled him. A sweet, almost musical, laugh drifted from below to fill the very air around him. Smiling, he sat up to see Rei's joyous face. A warm gentle breeze ruffled her light blue sundress as she ran up to him.

Happily, he stood and began to run towards her as well, both laughing in delight at seeing the other, their outstretched hands yearning to hold one another again. In a flash Rei's face turned to terror as she was violently flung away from him into a vortex of rippling flame. Blinking once, Shinji opened his eyes. He remained on the same hill, but now everything was charred black, not a living thing within kilometers.

"Shin...ji." It was barely above a whisper, but a shout to Shinji ears. Rei lay just to the side under a now dead cherry blossom tree. She was badly injured, her beautiful dress in taters. Shinji stooped besides her on his knees as he let his hand come down towards her. With all her might, Rei feebly reach up, to take that hand one last time. Only centimeters away, her hand fell, dropping to the ground lifelessly.

"REIIIII!!!!!!!" Shinji screamed clutching his head.

(Battle ground)

A large gust of wind suddenly pervaded the area before all was quite. The lance remained ready to pounce on the helpless victim before it.

"I will not let you." said an emotionless voice that seemed to come from the very air itself.

Unheeding, the lead Eva lifted the lance higher before descending with deadly speed and accuracy. A feeble AT field rose and was ripped asunder, as if through paper. Time slowed down as the lance drove mercilessly forward. A flash of light and a clap of thunder drove everything into white blindness. When the scene cleared, the lance had stopped. An enormous AT field rapped itself around Unit 00, protecting it from intrusion. The Lance of Longoneus was forced to remain frozen in air as it flickered angrily and spat red sparks against that which should not have been able to stop it. The interface between the two continued to flash and hiss for several seconds, but the AT field did not give way. Angrily, the Eva raised the lance once more and drove it down to the same effect.

"I will not let you hurt her. The Eighteenth angel will stop you." Came Shinji's distant voice once more.

(Central Dogma)

"The Eighteenth? But the Eighteenth angel is...humanity" Misato froze as pieces of a large complex puzzle began to fall into place. "Shinji is channeling the Eighteenth angel. Billions of AT fields all resonating together."

"That's impossible." Maya cried as she watched the screen before her. "That much energy would erode his very being."

Visions of Shinji after the Sixteenth angel's attack flashed before her eyes, the unexplainable weakness that almost appeared as if his very soul were...

"NO!!" She yelled as she refocused on the screen before her.

(Battle field)

The mass production models shifted around, trying to identify the source of the voice. Then they spotted it, a small form on the far ridge. It was Shinji, except something was different. His whole body seemed misty as if he weren't truly there. His eyes hanging open as if he were half asleep.

The lead Eva hoisted the lance up and threw it straight at the barely visible form. Like before, an AT field sprung into existence that almost encompassed the entire battle ground, blocking the lance. For seconds, the lance remained in midair, hissing and spiting, once more in apparent omnipotent rage at being balked again, but finally dropped harmlessly to the ground.

"You shall never hurt her ever again." The same voice said, as Shinji remained hovering meters above the ground.

The mass production series roared in fury as their arms unwillingly snapped to their bodies. All nine rising sharply into the sky.

"...A place where you will harm no one ever again."

The Evas remained in mid-air, all facing each other in a large circle that spanned kilometers. Slowly, each began to rotate around the circle. With baited breaths, everyone watched as they sped up, closing in on each other. All the while, the units screamed in fury as their bodies began to contort. First, their legs snapped up to their chests to be joined to their already bound arms, but it didn't stop there. The sickening sounds of bones snapping filled the air as they spiraled ever faster inward. First half a kilometer, then a quarter, then all that could be seen was a white streak that represented the Evas in their final moments of being.

With a large crack that shook the very ground, they smashed together in the very center, generating a colossal white flash that radiated across the sky for kilometers. After only a second, even the flash itself drew inward. Just as fast as it had left, it crashed back into a single point only to disappear.

Closing his eyes, finally in peace, Shinji faded from view.

Rei's head shot up. In her mind, she saw Shinji. Wearing his plug suit with the interface clips still attached. He sat down and began to wave at her with a small infinitely sad smile; waving good bye. Soon his form began to recede, becoming smaller.

"No! Shinji!" Rei yelled. Somehow, she knew that if his form disappeared he would be gone. And still the figure waved with that sad smile.

Unit 00's battered body rose to its feet causing sever agony in Rei's already injury racked body, but she paid no heed as she staggered to where Unit 01 remained incased within the mountain. For one heart stopping moment, her Eva fell onto the plain below. With all her might, she forced herself up.

Finally, she reached her destination. She pulled the Unit away from the mountain and ripped the still smoldering armor out of the way. On contact her Eva's hand armor melted, but it didn't matter for what she sought was now revealed. She took the capsule out and gently laid it to the side; Rei then ejected her own plug and climbed out to dash down to his. She grabbed onto the super heated bars turning them with all her might. Her hands sizzled as the doors stubbornly refused to move at first. With a small pop, they released their hold, opening before her. She immediately jumped inside. Shinji's body lay there, motionless. The form within her mind was now only a small pinprick in the background.

"Shinji, no. Don't leave me, please. Please Shinji, I understand what you felt when you saved me during the 5th. I..I...Just don't leave me." For an instant, the pinprick halted before vanishing completely. "NOOOOooooo!!!!" Rei cried out burying her head into his chest as she began to cry.

Minutes passed slowly as she sat there pondering everything that she had lost. All the times that they had shared together, all the things he had shown her. Now the most precious of them all was gone. But something distracted her from her grief; she felt it on her shoulder, just the barest of pressures. Looking up with a gasp, she saw Shinji's head still hanging to the side, but his eyes were slightly open. Just the barest hint of a smile formed on his face before they closed once more. Frightened that she had lost him once more, she put her head back onto his chest. This time to find a heart beat. For the longest moment in her life she found only absolute silence, then just a small almost imperceptible beat, followed by another.

**THE END**

Authors note: Mwwhhhaaa, the last chapter is finally done, completed, over with, faneto. Now this chapter should probably have been split into two sections for my sanity, but I promised that there would be only one more chapter with a potential epilogue, and I just can't go around lying to the very people who are so very nice and submit many many reviews now can I?

I'll try to explain anything that may have been confused about here. Rei probably appeared very OOC in this chapter, but you will notice that she regained her memories, which was punctuated by Gendou receiving his punishment. Rei joined with her younger self who was very in tune with her emotions. Rei is still Rei, but because of this joining, she is much more emotional hence, her behavior near the end. At the beginning, when she was so cold to Shinji, she was trying to hide the fact that she did remember from Gendou so had to act as her old self to everyone lest her surprise be caught on by him.

Asuka's reaction in their dialogue may have appeared off as well, but she simply thought she found out Shinji wanted Rei more then her so she did something very emotionally mature by letting go so that they could remain friends.

Obviously, everyone who has reviewed so far agrees with me that an epilogue is a good thing to rap things up. To this end, I'll get to work on it. Please review with comments, either good or constructive. It really helps me in the writing process.

Until next time,

brindani


	9. Epilogue

Authors note: I'm so teary eyed. I've actually managed to finish something this large. Anyway, just want to thank everyone who helped pre-read for me throughout the months: Rvy, rgreat, D Flowers bTan, Sessha, RedMage2k, and Srose. Big thanks goes to those who reviewed for my story as well.

Disclaimer: Don't own Eva or its characters. If I did, the ending movies would have been a whole lot different.

"Speaking out loud"

'Thinking internally'

**Through the Mind of One**

by: brindani

Epilogue

(Two months after the final battle: Misato's new apartment)

Shinji's eyes opened slowly to stare blearily up at the ceiling above him. The first coherent thoughts that ran through his mind was that his body still lay comfortably on the couch where he had fallen asleep several hours ago. The only addition to his state was a blanket that hadn't been there when he fell asleep. 'Rei.' He thought fondly before turning inward.

His face fell to his chest as he once again remembered his frustrating new curse. Sleep, it was frustrating. The reason for his annoyance was obvious; he had slept for the first month and a half after the battle and then had to sleep nearly thirteen hours out of each day. 'Probably shouldn't be complaining, I almost died back there.' He thought with a small shiver.

'No I wouldn't get depressed.' He thought remembering that today was the day that Misato promised she would take him outside to see what had happened since the incident. It was something he had been yearning to do for some time.

"You are awake." Rei's voice drew his eyes to the hallway where her crimson eyes were watching him, dancing with a new inner light.

"Yes." He replied with only a little hesitance.

"I'm glad." Rei said as she silently walked over to the couch. With a light smile, she lay on top of him so that their faces where separated by a bare few centimeters. Her smile widened as she took his hands into hers. Twin burn marks aliened perfectly, each representing the memory of their mutual saving of the other's life. She did this often now that he was awake. To her, it represented the growing bond she felt with him.

"So today is the day?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, Misato should be arriving soon, but until then..." Rei released his hands and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling herself closer to him, while shifting her head to lay gently against his chest before sighing in contentment.

Her light squeezes were just one more aspect amongst many that Shinji found very pleasant in his new relationship. 'Oh, life just couldn't get any better.' He thought as he absently stroked his right hand lightly through Rei's hair, which elicited a small sigh.

They lay like that for twenty minutes until the front door opened ushering in Misato with her classical black skirt and red jacket. She stopped near the entrance taking in the, by now, familiar scene before her. With a small chuckle, she decided to restart her favorite hobby: teasing Shinji.

"Shinji! I can't leave you alone for a second without you trying to take advantage of Rei!" She said with mock anger.

Shinji's first instinct was to bolt away from the object of the insinuation. This impulse died quickly as he was far too weak, especially since a very delightful weight still rested on top of him. All he could manage was a little bounce that even Rei hardly noticed.

"Misato! I...it isn't what it seems. We weren't doing anything honest..." he stopped speaking as he noticed Misato crouched over, doing a very poor job of holding in her gales of laughter.

"Don't worry Shinji. I don't think you will be able to do such things for another couple of months anyway." She said as she gained some amount of control back.

"Hey, then what did you do that for?" Shinji asked with a little bit of annoyance.

"It was just too fun to resist." Misato said as she walked over and lightly ruffled Shinji's hair to his dismay.

"Do not be concerned, Shinji. It is one of very few things that Misato excels at." Rei said as she shifted to stand up, much to Shinji's disappointment.

"Hey, Rei now no need to get insulting." Misato said with a small frown.

"Revenge, as they say, is a female dog."

'Mental note to self: never piss Rei off in a verbal battle' Misato thought to herself.

"So, are we going to go soon, Misato?" Shinji asked trying to change the subject in hopes of preventing Misato from making a fool of herself... again.

Misato glanced at him for a second before swishing her finger back and forth in front of his face. "Not quite yet. I still have to get out of this first." She said while plucking at her currently weathered skirt. "Plus we have to wait for our guests to arrive."

"Guests? Who else is coming along?"

"Now that would be telling." Misato said with a last wink before strolling away to her room.

Shinji looked up expectantly at Rei. "Do you know who is coming over, Rei?"

Rei simply shrugged her shoulders "No idea." She said before she too left to change out of her school clothes.

Knock, knock.

"Damn, their early!" Came Misato's voice from somewhere down the hall. Several seconds later, Misato rushed out into the front living room in the middle of trying to get her black mini-skirt back over her head. Being far more extreme then her typical displays of undress, Shinji's mouth quickly fell open.

"Hello, I didn't expect you guys so early. Yes, I should have figured. Come on in." Misato said to whoever was at the door.

Several moments passed by until both Touji and Hikari came strolling into the front living room while Misato rushed back into her room to get ready.

"Hello, Shinji. We've been worried about you. We figured today would be an excellent opportunity to check up on ya since you are going to be heading out and all."

"How did you know I was going out today?" Shinji asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Well, that was really easy as Rei asked us if we would like to come along." Hikari said as she stepped up besides Touji.

Shinji directed his gaze over to the newly revealed Rei in a sky blue sundress. "Hmmm, no idea, huh?" Shinji said before his eyes widened as the image of loveliness before him.

Rei only smiled mischievously. "I thought you may enjoy the additional company." She responded in a relaxed tone.

Unable to keep his disappointed face under Rei's light crystal clear laughter, Shinji broke down to join her with a small laugh of his own.

Touji looked from one to the other, taking in the slight rosy hue that slowly developed on Rei's cheeks. A small smile of his own formed before he walked forward to grab Shinji around the neck. "Why you little rascal, you've already had her haven't you?" A sharp slap punctuated his statement as Hikari appeared behind him with her temple throbbing angrily. Touji took one look at her before laughing again and immediately letting go of Shinji. "But really, I'm happy for both of you. I kind of figured you two would be good for each other." He said sincerely to both of them. His words also had a calming effect on Hikari as she lowered her fist that had remained ready just in case her boyfriend decided to continue his vulgar behavior.

"Thanks, Touji." Shinji said looking away in embarrassment.

"Ok everyone, I'm finally ready. Lets..." Misato stopped mid-sentence as she noticed Shinji's flustered face and the nice red tint still growing on Rei's cheeks. Smiling, Misato opened her mouth to comment when Rei raised her eyes to stare intently at her, almost daring her to try. Remembering her previous experiences dealing with Rei, she thought it wise to perhaps drop the subject, well... at least until she could get Shinji by himself and then she could torture him mercilessly with all the new dirt she had been gathering recently.

"So let's get going." Touji finished for Misato as he walked over to help Shinji stand. Rei gathered up Shinji's other arm to help him navigate to the car as well.

As they approached Misato's car, Hikari's face grew an impish grin as she grabbed ahold of Touji's arm forcing him to let go of Shinji and started to drag him insistently towards the back seat. Seeing where she was heading, Touji chuckled once before stopping her progress. "Now you don't think I would separate the two new love birds do you?" He said with a genuine grin. Hikari pouted for a second before shrugging and walking around to the other side of the car. Touji very ostentatiously opened the back door while sweeping his arm around to invite Shinji and Rei to enter.

Shinji stared bashfully at the offering before Rei took the initiative to help him enter. On the other side of the car, Hikari noticed something that could cause a problem. "Hey! There is only enough room back here for two people." She complained.

Misato looked worried for a second wondering whether it was a bad idea to have invited the two additional people to come when she noticed a devilish smile start to spread on Touji's face. "I don't see any problem." He stated, as he looked her directly in the eye. For a second, Hikari looked confused until Touji directed his eyes towards the front passenger seat.

"Oh." She said as her face started to blush.

Misato thought it a bad idea at first, but after taking in Hikari's joyous continence and her quick movements to join Touji, she decided to let them be. 'Besides, all the cops know better then to try and pull me over.' She thought to herself with relish.

(On the road)

Shinji stared sadly out of his window as the group drove along one of the less traveled roads. Although not their main target, the JSSDF had demolished much of Tokyo 3. 'It's such a shame.' He thought as he noticed debris ranging from small pebbles to large boulders along the side of the street. During the time he had been out of action, the city had done a good job of removing much of it yet more still remained to be cleared.

Not wanting to think about it, Shinji turned his attention to the front of the car where Hikari sat on Touji's lap with his arms held lightly around her waist, she wore a small satisfied smile on her lips as her unfocused eyes stared out the window.

Turning his attention down from them, his eyes landed on the girl next to him. The girl he had recently found that he actually...loved. She wore a solemn expression as she looked out at the wreckage. An odd feeling started to twist in Shinji's abdomen at her tiny frown. He just didn't like seeing her unhappy. Slowly and deliberately, he took his right hand from his lap to gently place it upon Rei's down turned hand next to him.

She looked around at the unexpected touch. Seeing Shinji's hand now covering her's, she slowly smiled up at him while moving her hand around so that they could hold each other's hand.

Still smiling at Rei, Shinji happened to glance just past her to see several run down buildings. Shifting his gaze forward he saw Asuka's apartment coming up. He really wanted to see her again. She hadn't been by to visit during a time when he was awake so he wanted to know what she had been up to.

His smile faded as he realized that they had just past the building. 'What the...' "Hey Misato, I thought we were going to check up on Asuka today."

Misato looked back at him in confusion before realizing which building they had just went by. "Oh, I forgot you didn't know."

"Know what?"

"Asuka moved out of her old apartment."

"She did? Where did she move to?"

"Now that will be a surprise." Misato answered with another of her small secretive winks.

Indeed, Shinji was very surprised as they pulled up to a very large expensive looking mansion.

"Misato, why are we stopping here?" Shinji asked.

"This is where Asuka lives now." She replied with a knowing grin.

"Ya, didn't you know that, Shinji?" Hikari asked as her mind managed to reorient on the conversation.

"Umm... No? How could she afford something like this?"

"Well, it has been well past her punishment of a month, I just kept my word and let her live someplace bigger."

Shinji sat gawking at her and the giant mansion in front of him. "You put her up in that?!"

"No, we just opted for the servants."

"But... but how?"

"A couple of weeks after the battle, Asuka started doing advertisements. She is now something of a celebrity." Shrugging her shoulders, Misato continued. "Who could have known that she had a minor in both acting and business?"

With that they pulled into the long driveway and up into a spare parking spot off to the side. "Ok, everyone out." Misato said as she put her own words into action.

Everyone else clamored out of the car to follow Misato as she made her way to the front door. It took several minutes after ringing the doorbell before the door opened. There stood a butler. After taking a good look at the people before him, the butler held his head up in a very snobbish fashion. "May I help you?"

"Yes, we're here to see Asuka."

"Madam is currently indisposed. You may come back at another time." With that, he tried to close the door. He didn't get very far before he found the door stuck open. Looking down he noticed a foot lodged firmly at the base of the door, the foot belonging to one Misato Katsuragi who wore a very condescending expression.

"I believe that if you check, you'll find that _Ms. _Soryu is actually expecting us. As such, I would expect you to inform her of our arrival before you find yourself out of a job." Misato said all of this in a very nice manner, nice for someone staring holes straight through you anyway.

"Hummff." The butler's reply came as a small sneer of contempt spread across his face. He then waved them in and began to walk toward the back of the mansion.

The only thought going through Shinji's mind was that this place was **big. **They must have pasted at least a dozen rooms decorated with lavish furniture and expensive looking paintings. He also could swear that he had noticed at least three kitchens along the way. He had no clue as to why someone would need so many, but he figured it was on the off chance that an army decided to pay a social call.

His amazement magnified ten full as they exited from the back to find a very ostentatious Olympic sized swimming pool. On the side closest to them, they found the very person that they had come to see. Asuka was lounging on a reclining chair in a two-piece black bathing suit while talking on the phone.

The butler raised an arm to stop them as he continued to Asuka's side awaiting the discussion's end. Standing only a couple of feet behind Asuka, the group was privy to part of the conversation.

"So you want to make a movie about the events around here? Now who are you with again? Gainax? I've never heard of them. How much are you willing to pay? Only three million for the whole thing? Try three million per month. Yes, you heard me right. That would go for everyone else involved including the other pilots... You and I both know that you will still make a killing off it. Everyone and their dog will want to see it and if you do a halfway decent job, they will probably come back to see it again. Is that so? Well, I have Spielberg willing to make the picture too. I'm sure he won't be so stingy." With that, she flipped the phone over, hanging up on the other party before they could reply.

Seeing that Asuka was now off the phone, the butler leaned down to whisper in her ear. Smiling, Asuka stood and walked over to the awaiting group.

"Hey guys. What took you so long? I've been waiting for awhile." Asuka said with sultry smile directed at Shinji, this coupled with her very tight bathing suit, would turn practically any guy into a puddle. It didn't have quite the intended result as Shinji's main attention continue to wander to the blue haired beauty at his side from the corner of his eye.

"Don't blame us; the butler decided that we were too low to grace your presence. It only took a ... little persuasion to get him to reconsider." Misato said with her own mischievous smile.

"Oh, don't mind James." Asuka said slightly disappointed by Shinji's lack of attention. "He can be a but-head at times about the _lower class_, but he really does a good job." By the time Asuka finished, James had made himself scarce, which seemed to amuse everyone present.

"So Asuka... what made you decide to live in a place like this?" Shinji tentatively asked taking his gaze momentarily off of Rei to look around to emphasize the size of everything.

Asuka brought her attention back to Shinji, her smile becoming much brighter seeing that she finally had his attention. "Shinji, it's good to see you up and about again. As to your question, if you want people to see you in a certain way then you have to act and live in kind. Thus if I want people to treat me as the star that I am, I have to live as a star would. Of course, this is only a modest house really..." Asuka lasted only five seconds before breaking down and laughing out loud at the incredulous gazes that where now directed at her. "Really, you guys need to understand a joke when you hear it."

Asuka stopped a moment to stretch her arms well above her head stretching her swimming suit dangerously outward. Touji's eyes were nearly popping out of his skull at the wondrous display now revealed. Hikari was glaring daggers at the back of Touji's head, Rei was showing some sever annoyance and Misato looked curiously at her wondering why Asuka was being so ostentatious. "Anyway..." Asuka started after finishing her stretch covertly looking at Shinji, hope filling her eyes. Her hope turned to despair when she found he hadn't even been looking at her display, his eyes being drawn to Rei once more.

She didn't have too much time to consider the implications before she heard a beeping coming from the stool next to her. "Just a second." She picked up the phone with a little annoyance. "Yes? Represent the banana latheriest cereal brand? That stuff tastes god awful why would I... five million? Yes, I think the taste is beginning to grow on me. Could you hold on a sec." She turned to her friends with an apologetic look. "Sorry guys, but I really have to take this call. It was nice seeing you all. I know you must have a bunch of other things that you need to do so I'll see you later."

With understanding at the shear quantity of money that Asuka was dealing with, every one decided to leave as suggested.

Asuka watched them go through the back door where James quickly appeared to _help_ escort them out of the house. Her brow sunk down in anger for a second. "Damn, she already has you enthralled. Maybe, if I invite you over. I could have James pick you up when that hussy isn't watching and then I'll be the sole object of your attention. You'll be all mine soon enough" She said with a small evil laugh. She then noticed the phone still in her hand. 'But until then...' "Yes, I'm still here. I think we can work things out with this cereal deal."

Misato, leading the group back towards the car, decided to be the first to say what was on everyone's mind. "Asuka isn't going to be hurting for cash for awhile."

"That's no joke. It sounded like she was going to seal a deal worth five million." Touji commented as he once again took the front seat with Hikari not far behind.

"What was that about a movie deal anyway?" Shinji asked

"No clue really. It likely just came up, but it sounds like we might be able to get in on some of the action. That would be a couple of million that I could live with real easy." Misato replied dreamily.

(On the road, again)

Everyone had been relatively quite for some time after leaving the luxurious mansion. The calm was interrupted when Misato's cell phone began to ring.

"Yes, Misato here. No, for the last time you guys won't get your chance. Hell with the higher ups." She said before promptly turning the phone off.

"What was that about, Misato?" Shinji asked.

Misato glanced at him before speaking. "That was the health department at NERV. They have been hounding me to let them examine you."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Shinji commented.

"You don't understand. They want to cut you open to see how you were able to do what you did during the last battle."

"Oh..." Shinji said his face beginning to pale considerably. He quickly stopped thinking about this distressing piece of news when he felt something. He looked down to find that Rei now held his hand. He looked up to see her give him a caring smile.

"Don't worry; we will not let them do anything to you." She said quietly.

He smiled back for a second before a frown began to form. "What about... father?" Shinji asked the last in a low voice with a subtle hint of anger.

Covertly, everyone in the car watched him; gauging his reaction as best they could.

"He **is** in a prison locked away from anyone he might hurt, right?" Shinji asked.

"Well, not exactly." Misato answered nervously.

"What do you mean not exactly?" He said with his full attention now riveted onto Misato. The look made her feel very self-conscious. "Is he really allowed out there to continue to hurt other people? That can't be allowed."

"I believe that it may be prudent to pay a visit to the commander." Rei said quietly. Shinji quickly shifted his attention towards her, which Rei didn't quite meet.

"Ya, that sounds like a good idea, Rei." Misato replied.

"Misato, would it be alright if you dropped Hikari and me off at the park here." Touji asked while pointing to a small park that they were currently passing.

Misato took the hint when Touji subtly nodded his head towards Shinji to let her know that he thought it best if Shinji saw his father with minimal interference. She nodded once before replying. "Sure." She said as she pulled over.

Shinji opened his window when Touji lightly knocked against it.

"I'm glad to see that you are doing alright, Shinji. Make sure you hang in there, ok?" Touji said giving him a playful hit on the shoulder.

"Sure thing." Shinji replied as he watched his best friend turn to Hikari and gently take her hand as they headed towards a swing set in the distance.

(MICI)

Shinji read the letters on the front of the building twice before turning to Misato. "What does that stand for, Misato?" He asked pointing up to the letters.

"Mental Institute for the Criminally Insane." She replied as she walked past him up the steps. Shinji quickly followed behind to keep up while Rei helped support him from his right side.

In a gentlemanly fashion, Shinji supported himself against the door to hold it open for Rei which set off a few giggles from Misato when she turned to see what was taking the two so long.

Once everyone was in, Misato turned to the counter where a relatively scraggily guard sat eating a chocolate donut. "We're here to see Gendou" she said with only a small frown at the very unprofessional actions the guard made far too public for her taste.

He only glanced in her direction before muttering with his mouth still full "Gendou is in a restricted section. I can't just let anyone go and see him." The guard didn't notice a heavy tick begin to rise on Misato's brow or he may have been a little more agreeable.

Silently Misato whipped out her NERV id badge and shoved it into the guards face. "I think I just might have authorization, don't you?" She said just a little too sweetly.

The guard blinked as he tried to read the writing now directly in front of his face. 'Misato Katsuragi: second in command of NERV.' His eyes grew wide as TV screens before he jumped to his feet to salute the second in command. "Sir... I mean Ma'am. If you'll come this way I'll lead you to patent Gendou Ikari's cell immediately." He said in his most professional scared out of his mind voice that he could.

Misato nodded and waited for him to regain control of his bladder before they moved down the hall and into an elevator. After descending four floors, the elevator stopped to open into another hallway with glass panes lining the opposite wall.

"This is where we hold the more important figures." He said trying to be helpful when he noticed the young boy look around curiously.

"And Gendou is where exactly?" Misato asked while impatiently tapping her foot.

"Yes, of course." The guard said as he sped away along the hall to a pane of glass near the far end. Shinji curiously looked into the room. There he found Gendou in one of the corners with a strap jacket enveloping him. What caught his attention immediately was that Gendou was definitely not in his standard I am mightier then thou position. He was twisting and turning around as if to avoid phantoms that no one else could see. Occasionally he would yell at what appeared to be the top of his lungs. It was difficult to tell with soundproof rooms.

"Wha...what is he screaming?" Shinji asked nervously.

"It seems that every five minutes or so he starts to yell something about 'not again' before ducking into one of the corners. The physiatrists have no idea what is wrong with him. They can only speculate that he became shell shocked when NERV was attacked."

"So, he did get what he deserved." Shinji said in just barely above a whisper.

The only other person to hear him was Rei who had continued her visual directly next to him. Her smile widened noticeable while they all walked out of the building.

(In the car, part three)

"So where do you guys want to head to now?" Misato asked of the other two occupants in the car.

For a long time, every one remained silent. Misato was about to suggest returning to the apartment when Rei spoke up. "Could you drop us off at the school, Misato?"

Misato glanced at Rei before shrugging her shoulders. "Sure, I don't see why not."

"Why do you want to go there, Rei?" Shinji asked curiously, as he looked deeply into her crimson eyes.

"Think of it as... a surprise." She whispered quietly into his ear.

(School)

Misato watched as Shinji leaned much of his weight onto Rei while she angled them towards a large clump of trees off to the side of the main school. "I'm happy for you both. If anyone deserves happiness it's you two." She then drove off to keep a lonely beer can company."

"Isn't this that grove that you and Asuka fought in?" Asked Shinji curious as to why Rei would take him here.

"Yes, however, I noticed something else while I was here." She steered Shinji into the clearing while he gave a little shake, nerves at being in this place again.

Rei, however, didn't stop there as she walked directly into the foliage on the opposite side. "Rei? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Shinji asked taking note of the rather dense foliage and his limited ability to maneuver.

"It isn't far." Rei soothed as they soon broke into a second less obvious clearing. This one was far more spectacular then the last. Through the center ran a small stream gently tinkling along with clear crystal water running in it. The soft grass on either side of the brook seeming to tempt them to sit. Taking the opportunity, Rei gently lay Shinji against a smooth rock off to one side then sat herself down to snuggle against him on his right.

Both gazed up as the stars started to reveal themselves into countless specks with a large full moon prominent. Tentatively, Shinji put his arm around Rie while she shifted to lay her head on his shoulder.

Shinji sighed in contentment before speaking again. "Rei? I...I love you."

For a moment, all that Rei did was smile brightly. "I... do too. I love you, Shinji."

**End Epilogue**

Authors notes: There was something I forgot to explain during the last chapter. The actual title of this story isn't arbitrary. It was based off the idea that Shinji could channel the eighteenth angel through his mind thus: 'Through the Mind of One'.

And now, I, your humble waiter for the night, hope you enjoyed your repast and found it to your liking. I am hesitant to speak so, but it is necessary to mention that I am overjoyed to be a waiter here at The pay, however, is negligible at best. So we waiters must rely on tips from our customers. Nothing extravagant really, just please take a moment to press the button on the lower left to review and tell me how I am doing and how you enjoyed your time here. If you did not enjoy yourself, please tell me how I might rectify any problems so that I may better serve you in the future.

Thank you,

brindani


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